Constantine: List up to 39 now with the addition of Mediterranean Gull and Carrion Crow. There were at least two Mediterranean Gulls flying directly over the house in a flock of Black-headed Gulls. The Carrion Crow was rather more difficult as there are Rooks all around us – there is a rookery just beyond the garden and they never seem to be away for long even in winter. So I had to wait for one to call to pick it up. Two very distant birds over the Helford River a few days ago might either have been Cormorants or Canada Geese – yes they were that far away! Will wait until I see them a bit nearer before adding either. What will be number 40? Neither Mallard nor Sparrowhawk as yet, so perhaps one of those. (David Collins)

Grampound Road: Goldcrest added on the 17th and Grey Wagtail on the 19th, bringing the total up to 40. (Rob Nicholls)

Dobwalls: A female Blackcap made a visit to the garden, number 33. (Chris &Janet Duffy)

Coverack: Chiffchaff and Blackcap for 33. Also c40 House Sparrow, good to see such high numbers. (Dan Beadle)

Trewoon, St. Austell: Large garden surrounded by other gardens, hedgerows, trees and a field used by a farmer for grazing sheep. Views over a wooded valley.

1st Jan – Opened the curtains and the first bird onto the list. A gorgeous male Great Spotted Woodpecker. Not seen since the summer, so a lovely surprise. Joined later by a female – the pair have been noted pretty much every day since. Other birds starting the list were Blackbird (2), Coal tit (3), Herring Gull (4), Jackdaw (5), Jay (6), Long-tailed Tit (7), Magpie (8), Robin (9), Rook (10), Woodpigeon (11) and Wren (12).

2nd Jan – Additions were female Blackcap (13) and Great Tit (14). Again, not seen blackcaps since the summer so another nice surprise. Didn’t know if this was a fleeting visit, but later in the week, not to be outdone by his mate, the male turned up and they have both been everpresent for the first two weeks of the year.

3rd Jan – The local pair of Buzzards (15) decided to put in an appearance on a beautiful sunny day, as always being mobbed by the resident Herring Gulls. They don’t get a peaceful life.

4th Jan – Collared dove (16), House sparrow (17) and Starlings (18) made it into the garden, but the star show of the day was a Raven (19) calling noisily as it flew over. The Herring Gulls had a new bird to mob!

5th Jan – Had to wait until the fifth day to see Blue tit (20) and Chaffinch (21). Where have they been hiding!

7th Jan – Heard a really strange bird call as I was topping up the feeders (they’re getting through the fat blocks at a rate of knots!). Looked up and two Grey Herons (22) were flying low overhead. A garden tick. A Redwing (23) also showed well later in the afternoon. Getting them in ones and twos now rather than the 30+ flocks from before Christmas.

8th Jan – First visits by the shy and secretive Dunnock (24), Fieldfare (25) and Greenfinch (26) today.

11th Jan – A couple of Goldfinch (27) arrived to feed on the seed heads left on the flowers in the garden. We never dead-head or tidy up the borders until springtime for this very reason.

15th Jan – A beautiful Song thrush (28) was feeding on the lawn and in the borders. Rare visitor to our garden. The local Tawny Owl (29) population also descended on our garden at 3 in the morning – a male and 2 females as far as I could tell. I must thank one of our cats for that, as it jumped onto our bed after coming in from its nightly hunting expedition and woke me up.

17th Jan – A Green woodpecker (30) flew through and down into the valley. I know these birds by a different name; they’re “Yaffles” where I’m from (born and brought up in deepest rural Berkshire).

19th Jan – Another stranger in these parts today. A lovely Nuthatch (31) graced the seed feeder. In fact, we had a mad half hour when there were birds everywhere you looked – the Nuthatch arrived with the tit and finch flock (3 Blue tits, 2 Great tits, 2 Coal tits, 4 Long-tailed tits, 2 Greenfinch, 3 Chaffinch, 6 Goldfinch). There were also 2 Gt Spot Woodpeckers, male Blackcap, Magpie, Robin, 3 Blackbirds and a Woodpigeon at the same time. It was hard to keep up with what was where. An hour later I looked outside and there was not a bird in sight – it couldn’t have been much different. (Ian Toogood-Johnson)

Garden Listing 18th January 2021

Pentire, Newquay: Regular visitors to the feeders in our garden so far in 2021 include:
Robin, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Blackcap, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Greenfinch (Clive Gwilliam)

Male and female Blackcaps

Wadebridge: A few more goodies to add making my total 33: Blackcap, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Mistle Thrush, Buzzard (Simon Marquis)

Camborne (Penponds): Our current running total for January 2021 is 25. Large, mature garden with many trees/ hedges, large pond and farmed fields on 2 sides. Semi rural location.

Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Redwing, Blackcap, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Magpie, Crow, Jay, Hering Gull, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Wren, 1 each of Grey Wagtail and Goldcrest, and Canada Geese flying over. (Joanne Eastman)

Liskeard: Siskins on the sunflower feeders. An uncommon garden visitor for me. (Deena Sharp)

Gluvian, St Columb Major: 40 species: Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Linnet, Goldcrest, Firecrest, Chiffchaff, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Raven, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Rook, Magpie, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Tawny Owl, Buzzard, Blackbird, Redwing, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Blackcap, Dunnock, Wren, Robin, House Sparrow, Yellowhammer, Pheasant, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Starling. (Bob Bosisto)

Liskeard: Running total now 23 with the additions of Siskin, Greenfinch, Pied Wagtail and Raven. Thrilled to have had 4 Siskin jostling on the sunflower seed feeders this morning, then later a total of 6 Goldfinch on niger and sunflower feeders. A lone male Greenfinch joined them. Scoped across the valley and saw one of the Ravens on a gate. Its mate nowhere to be seen today, but is usually close by. Regrettably, no further sighting of Monday’s large egret. (Deena Sharp)

Mabe Burnthouse, nr Penryn/Falmouth: Small garden on edge of estate.
1st January – 1)Tawny Owl at 12:30am, 2) Jackdaw, 3) Blue Tit, 4) Coal Tit, 5) Goldfinch, 6) Black-headed Gull (not so regular), 7) Herring Gull, 8) Wren, 9) Dunnock, 10) Rook (eventually 32 seen at the rookery), 11) Collared Dove, 12) Woodpigeon, 13) Blackbird, 14) Robin, 15) House Sparrow, 16) Pied Wagtail, 17) Carrion Crow (one of those with the white wing patches, hassling the rooks), 18) Great Spotted Woodpecker over, 19) Magpie, 20) Starling – around dusk watched the Jackdaws leave their pre-roost on the way to College Res. Must have been over 2000, but impossible to guesstimate properly!

2nd January – 21) Meadow Pipit. We’ve been getting a regular bird in both the front and back garden last few weeks – always nice to see pootling around about 8 feet away below the front window!
3rd January – 22) Chaffinch female briefly.
7th January – 23) Grey Wagtail. One in flight between rooftops in the area.
8th January – 24) Goldcrest, 25) Buzzard, 26) Long-tailed Tit, family party moving through.
9th January – 27) Firecrest moving fast through the back hedge, 28) Grey Heron over. Treated to the Meadow Pipit again. (Dan Chaney)

Feock: Another couple to my list please: 22. Bullfinch and 23. Dunnock. (Bec Penny)

Garden Listing 13th January 2021

Dobwalls: We have a medium sized, mature garden with pond. Village edge backing onto fields and scrubby copse with open countryside views.

31 species so far, to 13th January: House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Starling, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Robin, Magpie, Collared Dove, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Rook, Siskin, Yellowhammer, Redwing, Raven, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl (heard), Golden Plover, Goldcrest, Jay. (Chris & Janet Duffy)

Harrowbarrow: My sightings since 1st Jan 2021 are as follows: Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Pheasant, Blackbird, Magpie, Blue Tit, Robin, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, House Sparrow, Redwing, Buzzard, Bullfinch, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Goldcrest, Fieldfare, Wren, Coal Tit, Song Thrush, Linnet. 32 species. (Geoff Roberts)

Constantine: Moved on to 37 with the additional of a few common species. (David Collins)

Grampound Road: A lucky 13th for me today! 36. Great Spotted Woodpecker 37. Barn Owl. (R Nicholls)

Creegbrawse, Chacewater: Garden, surrounded by scrub moorland, stunted oaks and pasture .

Garden Lockdown List 2021 – 1.Chaffinch, 2.Bullfinch, 3.Goldfinch, 4.Dunnock, 5.Blue Tit,6. Great Tit, 7. Coal Tit, 8.Blackbird, 9.Wood Pigeon,10.Jay, 11.Carrion Crow, 12.Jackdaw, Goldcrest,13.Nuthatch,14.Wren,15.Tawny Owl, 16.Raven,17.Rook,18.Redwing,19.Collared Dove, 20.Buzzard, 21.Song Thrush, 22.Starling, 23.Feral Pigeon, 24.Herring Gull,25.Great Spotted Woodpecker, 26,Greenfinch, 27.Robin, 28.Magpie (Brian Toms)

Liskeard: Garden is on a housing estate, on the edge of a town with views across the valley to farm land.

Actually in my garden – Blue Tit, Blackcap (m), Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Blackbird
Wren, Collard Dove, Starling, Magpie, Dunnock

Viewed from my garden:- Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw (Deena Sharp)

Male Blackcap – Deena Sharp

Feock: I live in Feock with a moderate sized garden with trees, shrubs, lawn, wild patches, and Cornish hedge.

My garden list for January so far. Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Buzzard, Blackcap, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Magpie, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Greenfinch, Sparrowhawk, Chaffinch, Herring Gull

One of the Wrens in the garden was climbing up the trunk of a whitebeam, pulling off pieces of lichen and presumably getting insects from the trunk. The wren climbed about four feet. I have never seen this behaviour before in wrens who are generally found on the ground. Is it usual? Many thanks (Rosalind Smith)

It is something that they can and will do – if the food is there, they will clamber through hedgerows, woodpiles etc – although perhaps something you don’t so often see on a vertical trunk, so nice to see. The recent cold weather spell may also be forcing Wrens to be more visible/noticeable than normal too. Anybody else noticing this? – (Gardenlisting eds)

Crowlas: 10th Jan . Please update my list to 31, Mediterranean Gull being the latest. My location is inland with large garden (Gary Healey).

Polbathic: Jan. 1st ended with 30 species (plus Bar-tailed Goose)
Jan. 2nd. addred: Shelduck, Kingfisher, Great Black-backed Gull, Firecrest, Heron & Buzzard. ie. 36.
Jan. 3rd: Sparrowhawk, Magpie & Song Thrush. 39.
Since then: Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Tawny Owl (heard), Red-breasted Merganser, Blackcap & House Sparrow. Total to date (10th Jan)= 45.

It’s been quite a good start, but I don’t anticipate anything else for a while unless a Starling or some winter thrushes turn up. Many thanks for getting the list going again, it’s already proved to be a boredom breaker! (Andy Blonden)

Welcome to Cornwall Garden Listing 2021!!

Cornwall Garden Listing League: Following on from the success of garden lockdown listing last year we have decided to carry on again this year, but for simplicity (and to make it even better perhaps) run it for the whole year as a garden listing league. This is open to all, CBWPS members or not (we would of course encourage you to join if not already a member – online membership has all been set up but is not yet available for new members). The birds and other wildlife are all out there, even if we can’t get out as far as we want! See below for general rules and how to take part.

Whether you live by the coast, have a fantastic garden and views or just a small ordinary suburban plot with limited views of the sky, the most important thing is to enjoy seeing what you can. We will be updating the table and posts on a regular basis (initially a couple of times a week).

To take part: Please email your running total to us at: gardenlisting@cbwps.org.uk. along with any other extras such as photos and your updates. You can be as competitive or not as you like – the main aim is to be motivated and enjoy your garden birding!

Don’t worry if some have much better garden lists than yours – the main aim is to push your own list, and hopefully see some interesting birds you wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

Garden listing ‘rules’:

• • Essentially all birds seen or heard, in or from your garden.
  • All birds to be seen by the named observer only, in or from the garden (or house) – however distant.
  • This includes flyovers over the property and however distant, as long as they are identifiable!
  • Birds seen on the property or in the air space above count if you are not actually on the property yourself (such records tend to be rare but for example a Sparrowhawk that flies out of your garden as your approach).

The following don’t count unfortunately –

• • Birds that you would have seen if you were there … but weren’t. Run to get inside the property boundaries if you have to if you see a distant Red Kite whilst returning from the shops!
  • Exotics and escapes not on the British list such as Budgerigar, Muscovy Duck etc, dead birds and sound-recorded (nocmigging) only. (However do let us know about them as they are still interesting to hear about, even if you can’t ‘tick’ them for this!)

We also hope to have occasional bird ‘races’, hour counts and other events as the year progresses.

One of the main thrusts and ways to take part is by emailing in and sharing your bird sightings – hopefully this is motivating all round both in being able to share and see what others are experiencing whether in lockdown or just throughout the year. How many new species will you see by the time the year is out?!

We have set up a table as before for comparing gardens, with basic details such as location etc. If it starts to build up or get more competitive we may divide into divisions such as coastal etc at a later time.

Scroll down through the posts to read updates from the garden listers throughout the year (click on bottom left corner to see older posts).

We have also set up an online spreadsheet where you can view your list and compare against the combined joint Cornwall list (see below). Hopefully this will help with 1) Allowing individual lists to be monitored and seeing what potential target species you are missing and 2) Allow us to see what species are most frequently seen and allow for some interesting comparisons between gardens.

The link – Googlesheets Joint Cornwall List

Finally don’t forget to submit any other bird sightings to the normal bird-news@cbwps.org.uk, use BTO Birdtrack and submit to CWT Erccis for other county wildlife sightings.

Good luck with your garden birding!