Coping in lockdown
Stories and photos demonstrating how people have been enjoying their birding during 2020!
We asked you to tell us how you were birdwatching during lockdown, and we’ve been delighted by the many and varied responses. Here’s just a few of the ingenious ways in which you’ve coped with not being able to get out and about birding. Other readers have shared their pics with us, too!
Many of you have suggested that birds have become less timid because of the lack of traffic, noise, and general human activity.
PETER CLOKE, of Holbrook, Suffolk, has had plenty to report from his own garden.
“I have been amazed at the huge diversity of birds feeding in my small garden since lockdown. Winter and early spring months were bleak, with often the occasional Blackbird or Robin the only visitors. Now, I have had Carrion Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws, Pied Wagtails, Goldfinches, Woodpigeons, Chaffinches etc. I even had a Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull feeding. I guess that the influx of gulls may be because scavenging on beaches is not very productive, with little food waste left by humans.”
We think you’re right, Peter – gulls are supremely adaptable, so changing circumstances rarely leave them baffled for too long. 79-year-old JANET CRAIG, said:
“I am doing more watching than I have ever done, both in my garden and on walks nearby.
“Yesterday was one of my most exciting days, with seeing about seven Stonechats feeding. At home I am lucky to have a male Pheasant with two females coming into my garden to feed several times a day, and I was getting Mallards, too.
“I have the thrill of calling several birds who all fly to me, including a pair of Pied Wagtails, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird and his chicks and Starlings.”
VICTORIA SPENCER is one of the nurses whose work we’ve been more grateful for than ever during the current crisis, and made the point that birding during lockdown has a very beneficial effect on our mental and physical health, of which much more on page 28.
She said: “While I always look forward to Bird Watching, I have really appreciated it during lockdown, and the focus on birding at home really made me smile. Although I am still a ‘fledgling’ birder, I have missed going further afield. A trip to see Puffins in Northumberland was one of my 2019 highlights. But, as you say, staying at home has made me really appreciate my garden visitors. I normally use hiking and nature to manage stress. As this is limited during lockdown, watching my garden birds has become an almost
meditative component to my routine. It has certainly been good for my mental health and feeling connected to nature – benefits I am pleased to see you mention.
“You mentioned drawing birds you spot, and it inspired me to draw the pictures shown – the first being three of my favourite garden visitors, and the second being a regular I can always rely on to mop up the seed crumbs.”
DIANE BROOKER wrote to say: “I know I’m fortunate to have a garden and one of the of the benefits of lockdown is that I have time to sit back and appreciate it. The peace and quiet is wonderful and allows me to hear so much more. On 9 April, while sitting in said garden, the local gulls alerted me to the fact that they were far from happy about something in their air space, the local Buzzard, probably, but they don’t usually make that much noise so I hoped it might have been one of the Red Kites recently reported in the county. It turned out to be far better than that... an Osprey no less! It slowly headed north-east and out of sight, but what a garden tick.”
HARRIET DAY was another reader who has enjoyed discovering everything her garden has to offer.
She said: “I have learned so much about what comes to my garden. I live in a ground floor flat, with one tree and a small hedgerow, and I’ve recently planted some vegetation, adding feeders and nestboxes.
“This has encouraged a lot of wildlife to come to visit, so during lockdown,
I have discovered in my garden, a pair of Song Thrushes, three Long-tailed Tits and one Goldfinch.
“All love my feeders, whereas before I would have never have known they had been visiting. The Magpie has nested in the tree, a pair of Starlings made themselves a home in my roof, and Great Tits are using my nestbox.
“On an evening, about 8pm, I’d been sitting in the garden for 20 minutes and came across two bats that circled around, a little Hedgehog that I’d never seen before and a pair of Tawny Owls calling.
“This lockdown has made me appreciate the birds more in my garden.”
And local birding groups have taken up the theme. JOHN BIRKETT, of RSPB Croydon Local Group, wrote: “To keep people’s interest during lockdown, we organised a ‘Croydon Lockdown Bird Watch’ (CLBW), asking people to send in weekly lists of the birds seen and heard either in their gardens or flying over.
“I have been very pleasantly surprised at what birds turned up during April. Over 60 different species were reported. There were the regular garden birds, but we also witnessed some birds migrating through, such as Swallow, House Martin, Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff. And, right at the end of April, the first of our Swifts returned from Africa! Several people were treated to Tawny Owls calling nearby. “
PETER BROWN, of Sheffield, wrote to say: “I’ve started a regular birdwatch/ listen session for the families along part of the terrace where we live, in Millhouses, a district in the south- east of Sheffield.
“It’s very simple and it seems to work. The terrace looks onto a belt of trees that
line the River Sheaf. Families along the road look out from their respective front doors or windows. I position myself on the side of the road opposite the houses at a good 12m from the nearest household, and let neighbours know about the birds that are singing or appearing around us. I’ve got a fairly loud voice, but this is the city, with a massive Tesco supermarket below us, so the birds are fine with a bit of noise.
“We watch/listen from 9am for about half an hour. It seems to go down well. We had about six families up for it last week, and complaints that I’m not doing it more regularly!”
RUPERT LITHERLAND wrote to say:
“I didn’t start making a daily sightings record until the beginning of April. No matter, I am rather pleased because my Bird Journal entries suggest I have seen 53 species in the month, including a Great White Egret – a first for me in the area where I live.
“I am astonishingly lucky to live where I do, but could I claim to have ‘seen’ more birds? On the 22nd, I heard the unmistakable call of a Cuckoo, and I have heard it almost every evening since; the bird sounds on my RSPB PC edition of Birds of Britain and Ireland also suggests I have also heard a Garden Warbler and probably a Grasshopper Warbler. Does an H for ‘heard’ warrant a tick and might I claim to have seen 56 species?
“A Grasshopper Warbler would be both a UK List and Life List first. Readers will gather from this that I am a ‘birdwatcher minus’: that is, a birdwatcher who is not very knowledgeable about the rules. Do the impressive numbers of birds some birders see include those they have heard but not actually seen?”
Some of you have ventured a little beyond your garden. IAN TOOLEY told us: “I consider myself very fortunate to have a small local nature reserve (Pewitt Carr, Ilkeston, Derbyshire) within walking distance. Most of my birding has been on holidays, so coronavirus has given me an unexpected opportunity to explore locally for the first time. Early morning starts have been essential, as the area gets busy, but it has been worth it. so
“What a thrill to first hear, then see and finally photograph, a Cetti’s Warbler (only my second ever!). I then spotted a very distant Kingfisher. What a privilege!”
And finally, some of you have been getting creative about how you birdwatch. NICK SUTTON wrote: “It can be difficult to get out to your favourite birding sites, and your local patch or garden can be a little limited.
“I know it’s not an original idea, but I’ve been getting much enjoyment from making an armchair bird list from species seen on TV. I don’t allow birds seen on wildlife documentaries, that would be too easy. ID can be a real challenge from an often all too brief sighting (the pause button can be useful). It does allow me to refer to those all too often neglected world bird guides, and leads to an interesting list, including Australian Darter from Australian Masterchef and Nightingale from Good Omens.”
Visit birdwatching.co.uk/lockdown-birding-stories for more readers experiences and photos!