Birdwatching Bears

On the last weekend in January, the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch took place and we bears joined in.  In previous years we haven't always seen many birds during our watch hour, so this year we decided to do several watches and report the best one.

Endon and I did the first watch after lunch on Saturday, while Hanley and Waverley helped Polar to make some marmalade.   

Usually, we look for bargain oranges that have reached their use-by date but we can't do that with online shopping, so Polar ordered a tin of processed oranges.  Hanley and Endon said it made their work easier, as there was no peeling and chopping to do, so they didn't get sticky paws.

They stirred in two whole bags of sugar and warmed the mixture to dissolve it, then Polar helped them to divide it between two pans so it could be boiled fiercely without the mixture bubbling out of the saucepan.

Hanley and Endon collected some of the jars from the larder that we get our cream from the milkman in, and found there was enough marmalade to fill ten of them.

'Let's give the first one to Mr Matt the milkman!' said Endon.  Hanley agreed, and said we should make sure the posties and binmen get some too, as even four small bears don't need that much marmalade.

Meanwhile, Endon and I were bird-watching - until the steam from the marmalade made the window all foggy!  Fortunately, we had spent almost a whole hour watching by then and had a long list of the birds we had spotted.

We saw more blue tits (9) and sparrows (12) than anything else, although we also saw goldfinches, chaffinches, blackbirds, starlings, wood pigeons, great tits and a robin.

It was Hanley and Waverley's turn to birdwatch in the afternoon, but that was also football time, so Waverley watched from the workshop window while Hanley led the rest of us in cheering for Stoke, who managed a draw against Huddersfield despite having a man sent off.

It was very quiet at first, as a sparrowhawk had flown over just before he started counting (Grizzly saw it), but then Waverley saw more goldfinches, as well as the flock of sparrows and the blue tits, chaffinches, starlings, blackbirds and a coal tit.

Waverley enjoyed his birdwatch and was keen to do another one, so he and I decided to get up very early on Sunday morning and see what early birds were about.  We were glad we did, because the sunrise was very pretty.

We thought there would be lots of birds coming to get their breakfast between 8am and 9am, but actually it was surprisingly quiet.  We saw chaffinches and sparrows, including one sparrow who has lots of white feathers - Polar says that is called 'leucism'.

'Humans have a saying: "The Early Bird catches the worm," so I suppose most of the birds must be out in the fields worm-catching," I suggested to Waverley.  'I wonder if they will have come back when Hanley and Endon do their next watch?'

Hanley and Endon took over for a 10.30 to 11.30 watch, and they saw more birds than any of us - 39 in total - adding a dunnock and a wren to the list of different species.  

 

'It looks like Elevenses is the best time for bird-watching,' said Endon.  'We've seen eleven different types of bird!'

Endon and Waverley did a little watch together after Sunday dinner, but didn't see any exta types of bird, although the squirrel did drop in for some peanuts and sunflower seeds from the bird table.

We decided that the 'Elevenses' watch was the best one to report, so we did that on Monday, and we are now waiting to see what the results are across the whole country.

Polar says the most unusual birds tend to turn up after birdwatch weekend.  In previous years she has seen long-tailed tits, bullfinches, siskins and even a couple of fieldfares in the garden during the winter, but never on official Big Garden Birdwatch days. 

We think they know and hide!