A New Year so a new focus for my birding year, with a wish that lots of
people, be they birders or interested bird lovers, join in a Green Birding
year.
No Biking Birder adventure in Peru this year. I will be staying in the
UK. The main aim is to visit fifty favourite RSPB nature reserves and all ten
Wildfowl & Wetland Trust centres. Travel will be by train to an area and
then a time cycling around the RSPB and W&WT reserves around there.
Green Birding Public Transport (GBPT) may be my main activity but I will
also be Pure Green Birding with a study of my village, Romsley, in North
Worcestershire. By walking and cycling I will record all the nature I find within
the parish bounds and share it all with Romsley villagers.
To do so there are a
two Romsley Facebook group pages to post on and I will be visiting a superb Care Home,
Yew Tree, as they have started a nature project there. Bird tables, nest boxes,
wildlife garden flower beds and excellent information boards have all been put
in place there to enhance the wildlife that visits the large garden and increase
the enjoyment of the residents. (GBLW and GBLC)
Another Green Birding category that everyone can join in with is Garden Birding.
My garden, well Mum and Dad’s really as I don’t have a home myself, is a small
one that backs onto a steep slope covered by Oak trees. The view from the back
window of the lounge looks straight out into the canopy and therefore the birds
that come to the bird tables and bird feeders reflect the woodland birds to be
found in our area; Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Bullfinch
and Goldfinch, Nuthatch, Wood Pigeon and Stock Doves, Robin, Dunnock,
Goldcrest, Wrens and Great-spotted Woodpeckers.
Over the year, every time I
visit my parents, I will record what birds I see in the garden and also in the
gardens of neighbours on the estate. I am particularly interested in seeing
what different bird feeding opportunities neighbours have for their visiting garden
birds; what foods they put out and what feeders and bird tables they have.
During the year all my records will be placed in Bubo Listing. Bubo gives
one the opportunity of creating a list with date, location and notes on
sighting.
To give more precise details I will place records on the BTO’s Birdtrack.
(British Trust for Ornithology) and their Garden Birdwatch site.
Speaking of Garden Birdwatch, the weekend of the 25 to 27th
of January has the immense RSPB Garden Birdwatch. The World’s largest wildlife
survey, hundreds of thousands of RSPB members, well there are over a million
members, have for forty years faithfully recorded what birds they have seen in
their gardens. The results have shown declines in some bird species; 77%
decline with Song Thrush for instance and some increases; Bramblings and
Bullfinches being noted in larger numbers.
I hope to carry out this survey in five different gardens in the village
and hope other villagers will also do so and share their experiences on the
Romsley Facebook pages.
Finally when it comes to recording sightings, I will place all on eBird,
the international online database for bird sightings around the World.
So, will you join us? Here is a list of possible Green Birding scenarios
for you to peruse and consider.
1.
GBG - Green Birder Garden/Home.
2.
GBLW - Green Birder Local Walking.
3.
GBLC - Green Birder Local Cycling.
4.
GBLP - Green Birder Local Public Transport.
5.
CGB - County Green Birder.
6.
CPGB - County Green Birder Public Transport.
7.
PGB - Pure Green Birder.
8.
GBPT - Green Birder Public Transport; who
occasionally uses trains, buses, ferries.
9. GBEC – Green Birder Electric Car
10. GBEB – Green Birder Electric Bicycle
11. MGB - Motability Green Birding
If you are a Green Birder, or want to become one, then please take a look at the Facebook group, Green Birding Megastars. It doesn’t matter how experienced you are as a birder or where you choose to bird. Beginners to experts can be Green Birders and all can share experiences and thoughts, comment, post photographs of birds seen and send details of their lists and records on the group pages and I hope that membership will grow and reflect the changing nature of how we all relate to the birds we love. So please, come and join us all and be a Green Birding Megastar.
Green Birding to me is a way of life. Every aspect of my life, be it diet, clothing, housing, transport, recycling or energy use, has been carefully thought about with the aim to be as environmentally friendly as possible. It would be wonderful to hear from you and even better to hear that you either are a Green Birder or want to become a Green Birder.
