Newington Green Area Big Garden Birdwatch 2010

Big Garden Birdwatch 2010

NGAG Volunteers once again surveyed Newington Green and some local gardens for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2010.

We are particularly interested to see if the introduction of the 30 native street trees that NGAG had planted around the area, plus crab apples on the Green and the introduction of bird feeders and nestboxes onto the Green and the surrounding area, has had any impact on the local bird population.

It seems likely that starlings, crows, blue tits and great tits are now actually living and nesting on Newington Green. The range of birds recorded on the Green was slightly different from last year's and there were a few more birds recorded.

In Aden Grove, the re-appearance of a flock of around 25 house sparrows has been very welcome but the flock seems to have kept away several other types of birds that were regularly recorded during previous years. The collective term 'a quarrel of sparrows' seems very apt!

No-one has reported seeing greenfinches this year which is worrying, as they have been subject to a disease called trichomoniasis which has been killing them off. If you have seen greenfinches in your garden, do let us know. It is really important, if you feed birds, to keep feeders and bird baths clean, so that diseases do not get passed on to birds using them.

Several people reported that the high number of cats in the local area keep the birds away from visiting their gardens. This is another worrying problems for our struggling wildlife, as cats kill large numbers of small mammals, frogs, insects and various other species, not just birds. If you have a cat, it really helps wildlife if you put a bell on the cat's collar and keep your pets indoors at dawn and dusk, when our wildlife needs to feed the most.