Goodgymmers across the country took an hour out of their weekend to watch their garden for an hour and help the RSPB track bird populations. Well done everyone!

I (Rachel) picked an hour of mostly heavy rain, which probably wasn't in my favour, but meant I got to snuggle in an oodie in the conservatory feeling snug and smug.

Paul - "As I wasn’t expecting to be in the same place for an hour I combined it with a gardening task on Friday. It was a clear sunny day and while some food had been left out, the feathered visitors were not that frequent though. 19 were spotted, mainly pigeons, plus a robin who I have seen there before, along with a few sparrows and a Great Tit who disappeared as soon as the neighbours dog came out."

Gwyn and Tracey from Derby, as last year, visited each others gardens - "Gwyn was able to photograph some birds, whilst I'm only able to take pictures of things that don't move very quickly. We did the RSPB bird watch together twice; at Gwyn's house on Friday, and then at my house on Saturday, so were able to submit two lots of results whilst drinking lots of tea."

Anita - "I logged parakeets, blue tits, a robin, a collared dove and a magpie in a West London garden. I also spotted sanderlings, oyster catchers, gulls, crows and a magpie (and learnt to differentiate waders) in Wales but I don't think the view of a sliver of Swansea Bay really counts as a 'garden'."

Dave - "It was really interesting and made me take much more notice of what different types of bird arrive in the garden.

I was amazed to see a Long Tailed Tit and Siskin (I think) but boringly my garden seems to be most popular with Blackbirds!"

Sarah went for a walk with her son on the transpennine trail getting him engaged in nature.

Naomi - "I was just visited by 2 pigeons, although they flew off before I got a photo! I have cats, so don't encourage birds into our garden, as much as I love them. However I do get to see lots of birds in our neighbour's tree, safely out of the cats' reach!"

Goodgymmers from across the country joined forces to contribute to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023.

The idea is that you sit and watch your garden or local green space for 1 hour and tally up how many birds you see. They only count if they land, not fly overhead and you only count the largest group you see at one time (to make sure you aren't counting the same individuals several times!)

This information will give the RSPB an idea of bird populations and which ones may be struggling and need support. So far, over 5 MILLION results have been logged, but watchers have until Feb 19th to submit results.

4 members of GG Sheffield were hosted by Celine and we took turns surveying her garden for the hour whilst the others crafted. Highlight was a teeny wren, which she'd never seen before in her garden.

Jenni from Ealing was pleased to see a flock of starlings.

Gwyn and Tracey from GG Derby joined forces to do 2 watches in each other's gardens. Gwyn managed to get some excellent shots of the birds on his feeders, although their usual goldfinch customers eluded them this time.

Georgeta had a visit from what she calls "our" woodpecker... "Well we believe there are most likely 3 of them , in summer we saw the mother with 2 chicks together, but they only come one at the time now. 😃"

Amy from Maidenhead reported "Just three fat pigeons for me! I could hear lots of other birds and see some nests but couldn’t see the birds. I don’t think it helped that my children were out too and making lots of noise. I will appreciate it much more now when I see birds whilst out and about"

Sheila said "my highlight was a male blackcap and 10 goldfinches - I knew we had a few visiting every morning, but had never actually counted them before! Thanks for encouraging everyone to join in"

It was great to see all the runners flock to this task. After a morning of egg-cersize, there were no bluebirds in this gaggle of GoodGymer's and spirits where flapping high. As the rain started, the weather turned birdy cold so we vel-Crow-ed up our coats and fueled up on some "cheep-cheep" tea from the cafe before heading out and counting the local bird life in the park.

This "chirpy" bunch "dove" right into the task, with a quick pre-task brief from Tom H to ensure there was no "fowl-play"

Thanks for becoming egg-pert birders for the day! All results recored will be pigeon-fed into the RSPB's nest-ional survey, which has been running for the last 40 years and will give us an birdseye view of the condition of nature and our bird populations.