After a very cold spell and then rain and wind, I was fortunate to have a cool, cloudy but dry morning to spend my hour counting garden birds.

Blackbirds: 4
Robins: 3
Coal tits: 1
Blue tits: 3
Great tits: 2
Greenfinches: 2
Dunnocks: 3
Magpies: 1
Pheasants: 5
Nuthatches: 1
Spotted woodpeckers: 1
Goldfinches: 1

I could hear chaffinches "pinking" to each other, but no matter how carefully I scanned the trees, couldn't see them. (And I was glad there were pheasants - a big shoot down the valley yesterday had unnerved them and they looked very wary.)

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

Results of this year's count will be published on the web site in March. My last year's results are here - some interesting, but not significant, differences. Which brings me onto my related project for this year (as hinted to you, EllieGant!) I spend a few minutes each morning after I've put food out seeing what comes into the garden, and thought just how random my sightings are. So, for the Twelve Days of Christmas, I took 5-10 minutes each morning and wrote down what I saw - as I thought it would be interesting to see how varied the visitors were. I shall be boring you with post-dated blog entries for each day over the next few days! Starting here with Christmas Day.

pheasants