counting coots

In the name of science and Robinstroking, I did the Garden Birdwatch on Saturday and gave it another go on Sunday (validation of statistics etc). The best of it was that a Song Thrush was belting it's song out consistently for an hour, and a Starling was also going for it in a tree (with snatches of Greenfinch and Pied Wagtail in it's vocal arsenal). Just after a Chaffinch dropped in, Saturday's hour was brought to a sharp end by this critter...





... and this one too (this is Lulu - she is fucked-in-the-head from years of low level teasing from recalcitrant children).









So on Sunday morning I went for it again, despite the rain. For half an hour I had nothing but a bedraggled Woodpig and the singing Thrush for company, until the whole area was abandoned because of this...

No it's not the best photo but I never claimed to be any good with a lens... Once this dropped into next door's garden, everything freaked out and it fell silent, leaving me with one set of results which had three more species on it than last year (Dunnock, Feral Pigeon and Magpie).