Mull list so far

[Jenny]

herring gull; shag; little grebe; blackbird; songthrush; blue tit; great tit; coal tit; green finch; chaffinch; wren; goldfinch; collared dove; hoodie; songthrush; heron; whooper swan; mallard; greylag geese; robin; sparrowhawk; pheasant and buzzard. (23) All bar shag, little grebe, heron, mallard and whooper swan seen from garden.
Subsequently added yellowhammer, widgeon and Great Northern Diver.

Weather a little better recently and can add curlew and whimbrel and barnacle geese - this from another part of the island. Plus brief visit of Greater Spotted Woodpecker So far - 30!

(Unfortunately have four footed visitors - Bambi and a mink - but they don't count.) I've heard the tawny owls but not seen them since new year when this all started.

Have a series of dental ops coming up so will not be getting out much - I'm so petrified they have to dope me up to high dose so no driving about, etc. I'm expecting to have to reorganise some of my sea eagle nest watch sessions to accommodate this but fully intend being out there for the new nesting season, I've become a real addict of these birds - at least the local lot that get the tv coverage! They remind me of Johnny Morris and his nose and some of his supercilious anthropomorphic expressions/comments (now so frowned upon!) but I swear that Frisa has just that expression on her face as you drive past to protect her nest!!!!

Storeybooke - see you've been on Mull birds website - have you contributed/been up here before?

[Margaret]

Hi Jenny,

You make me so envious, all my little garden attracts are the usual run of starlings, greenfinches, sparrows and the goldfinches that I am trying to keep attracting, oh I almost forgot this year we have had quite a few chaffinches. It must be lovely to have all those exotic birds close at hand particularly the sea eagles, I would love to see those.

Best of luck with the dental work, I had some work done a few years ago so I know how you must feel, but, you do come out the other side and although at the time it seems to go on forever you will soon be able so smile again:) .

Margaret

[Jenny]

Hi Margaret,

PC hung up on previous reply! Can now add a raven to my list - well several actually but we are stuck on species not numbers because the sheep got into the garden again and ravens and hoodies were down like to shot to see what they could pick up. Poor dog now has a sore throat - he does not approve of large birds and being of sheepdog extraction is determined to herd sheep! He's a New Zealand Huntaway Collie cross and NZH's are vocal in their herding! Wonder if this is why I had almost zilch birds for the birdwatch this morning (see separate thread)?

Suppose WTSEs are exotics - but do so miss some of the birds used to get in my Warwickshire garden! White Tailed Sea Eagles are without doubt just fabulous, but so many folks come to see just them and not other wildlife - beginning to feel like a twitcher's notebook if you're with me.

First lot teeth out ok - thanks for concern - but desperate for some decent food - another month before will be able to eat a steak - not usual food but I'm getting cravings!

[Jabber]

The diversity is of peoples species lists are amazing, mine is from a small town house in Liverpool
Marsh Tit and Siskin shoudn't really be there, I have never seen them but when I first started I thought I had, they turned out to be Greenfinch and Coaltit

http://www.lynn-whitehead.demon.co.uk/bird%20numbers.jpg

[Jenny]

Gosh, Jabber, you are SO organised! Puts my paltry efforts to shame - I have sort of a weekly diary of species/food/weather (latter is key up here because of wind) AND cat invasions! :o

I ought to get more practical - we're about to have a huge amount of building work around us starting in May (doing best to delay one of them that means taking out oak trees) and I really need to log what's happening to the species in more detail.

Realise if we're going to do this local listing sensibly we need a common format - any suggestions, people?

[Jabber]

Me organised...never. Thats just a copy of my list from BTO's garden birdwatch, I've been involved for a few years and when you report your sightings they keep a record for you, you also help in valuable bird studies from the comfort of your lounge :)

[Jenny]

Now in alphabetical order! Remember this is my list for Mull, not just garden. Garden sightings marked with "G".

Arctic Tern
Barn owl
Barnacle geese
Blackbird G
Black Guillemot
Blue Tit G
Bonxie (Great Skua - and not welcome as it attacks puffins!!)
Brent geese
Buzzard G
Chaffinch G
Coal Tit G
Collared dove G
Curlew
Dipper
Dunlin
Eider
Feral pigeon G
Glaucous Gull
Golden Eagle
Goldeneye
Golden Plover
Goldfinch G
Great Northern Diver
Great Tit G
Greater Spotted Woodpecker G
Greenfinch G
Greenland Whitefronted geese
Greylag geese
Guillemot
Hen Harrier
Heron
Herring gull G
Hobby
Hoodie G
Kestrel
Lesser blackbacked gull
Little Grebe
Little Auk
Longtailed tit
Mallard
Manx Shearwater
Mistlethrush G
Oystercatcher
Osprey
Peregrine
Pheasant
Pinkfooted geese
Raven G
Red Throated Diver
Robin G
Shag
Siskin G
Songthrush G
Sparrowhawk G
Starling G
Tawny Owl G
Treecreeper G
Tufted duck
Whimbrel
White Tailed Sea Eagle
Whooper Swan
Widgeon
Wren G
Yellowhammer G