Natural Selection

I was asked to run a Big Garden Birdwatch event at the community hub on our Grange Park Estate today. There is always a danger with these events that nobody comes, or people come and the birds don’t show up. As it was we did fine on both counts, there was a healthy turnout and we saw thirteen species in our hour in the At The Grange garden which was very respectable.

It was interesting to get people’s experiences with birds on the Grange Park estate. From noisy birds in the morning to visitors to feeders it was all interesting to hear. Gulls are obviously conspicuous in Blackpool and featured in our chat, and construction work on the land adjoining the garden to build new homes was attracting them in numbers. We also some more unexpected birds given the location, particularly a Meadow Pipit that went over.

In a book I read recently (Diary Of A Louisiana Birder – review on here upstream somewhere) a keen birder told the author they picked up any field guides they chanced upon going cheap so they could give them away to anyone showing an interest in the birds around them. I’ve given one or two of my books away recently and hope to do more of this in the future.

If you do the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend I hope you have a busy hour of sightings.