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a o e e i c o n o y r e r 2 h h n o a f d w b l y t I f t g ‘Beast from the East’ Ninety-one species were recorded in gardens last winter, the joint highest for any year of the survey. Species such as Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer all made their way into a much higher number of gardens than usual on account of the snow, as did several species of gulls. Imagine the surprise, though, of the surveyors who saw birds like Snipe (in 51 gardens), Lapwing (12), Golden Plover (4) and Woodcock (3) in their gardens on a snowy February morning! These wader species tend to feed in wet grassland in the Y wider countryside, but the snowy conditions E N G I

forced them to seek shelter and food in R Long-tailed Tit

N gardens. A truly bizarre sight, but one that I L O

illustrates the pressure that this kind of C weather puts on our wildlife. Ireland’s Top 40 Garden Birds in Winter 2017/18 Thrushes flock to gardens As well as those more unusual species, other The rankings from last winter compared with the rankings from the three previous winters. birds that occasionally visit gardens were present in much higher numbers during those Species Percentage Rank Difference in Rank Rank Rank few days of snow than in any of the preceding of gardens* 2017/18 rank between 2016/17 2015/16 2014/15 weeks. Both of our migratory thrush species, 16/17 & 17/18 Redwing and Fieldfare, were recorded in five times as many gardens as in any other week Robin 100.0 1 no change 1 1 1 of the survey. Mistle Thrushes were in twice Blackbird 99.1 2 no change 2 2 2 as many gardens that week and Song Blue Tit 98.8 3 no change 3 3 3 Thrushes in 50% more. Blackbird numbers Chaffinch 93.2 4 no change 4 4 5 increased during the snow, too. Since these Magpie 92.6 5 i up 1 6 7 4 species feed on the ground, they came to Great Tit 92.4 6 m down 1 5 5 6 gardens to take advantage of patches of grass Coal Tit 87.1 7 no change 7 6 8 under trees and hedgerows where there Goldfinch 87.0 8 i up 3 11 8 9 m might not be any snow, as well as the food House Sparrow 85.2 9 down 1 8 10 7 m and water you put out for them. Wren 83.9 10 down 1 9 12 10 Starling 82.3 11 12 13 11 Finches fare well Dunnock 81.6 12 m down 2 10 11 12 Song Thrush 81.0 13 i up 3 16 16 15 Almost 7% of gardens were lucky enough to Woodpigeon 71.7 14 m down 1 13 15 14 have a Brambling visit last winter. Bramblings Greenfinch 70.2 15 no change 15 9 13 are a finch species that breeds in Scandinavia Jackdaw 68.5 16 m down 2 14 14 16 and Siberia but small numbers spend the Rook 65.1 17 i up 1 18 17 17 winter in Ireland, often joining Chaffinch Collared Dove 63.4 18 m down 1 17 18 18 flocks. In some winters they have been Hooded Crow 58.3 19 no change 19 20 20 recorded in as few as 0.2% of gardens, but last Pied Wagtail 55.0 20 no change 20 21 19 year was the third best winter for them since Bullfinch 51.4 21 no change 21 26 22 the survey began. As you would expect, Long-tailed Tit 50.2 22 no change 22 25 21 numbers were highest during the snow, when Blackcap 49.3 23 no change 23 22 23 they appeared in 43 gardens compared to a Siskin 46.7 24 i up 2 26 19 29 maximum of seven gardens in other weeks. Goldcrest 44.0 25 m down 1 24 27 26 For other members of the finch family, Redwing 44.0 26 i up 4 30 32 30 numbers were largely consistent across the Lesser Redpoll 34.6 27 i up 1 28 23 25 winter, with Chaffinch in 93% of gardens, Mistle Thrush 34.0 28 m down 1 27 29 27 followed by Goldfinch (87%) and Greenfinch Sparrowhawk 31.1 29 m down 4 25 24 24 (70%). Bullfinches was at their highest level in Feral Pigeon 27.8 30 m down 1 29 28 28 20 years (51% of gardens), while Linnets were Fieldfare 23.9 31 i up 1 32 36 33 at their second-highest level (11%). When it Pheasant 15.4 32 i up 2 34 31 31 came to our two smallest finch species, just Grey Wagtail 15.3 33 m down 2 31 30 32 under half of gardens had Siskins and over a Treecreeper 12.5 34 i up 6 40 39 36 third had Redpolls. Linnet 11.3 35 i up 2 37 35 34 Buzzard 10.8 36 m down 3 33 37 37 Tit family trends Herring Gull 10.5 37 m down 1 36 34 35 Our tit species were ever-present throughout Jay 9.3 38 m down 3 35 33 40 the winter, so there was no noticeable increase Snipe 7.6 39 i up 13 52 56 48 during the snow. Almost every garden had Brambling 6.8 40 i up 14 54 44 55 Blue Tit (99%), Great Tit (92%) and our native * Percentage of gardens in which each species was recorded in 2017/18 WINGS WINTER 2018 21 data for more than nine weeks – the crucial 60 cut-off point for our data analysis to ensure that the results are as robust as possible. So if 50 you miss a couple of weeks don’t worry 40 about it or give up, but do try and make it to the 10-week mark. 30 Last winter had the highest survey participation in five years, so a sincere thanks 20 to all of the individuals, couples and families 10 who contributed to this important bit of citizen science. The survey works best when 0 we have a wide variety of garden sizes and 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 4 6 7 8 0 3 5 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 locations on which to draw, so please do ------4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 encourage your friends and family from all around the country to take part this year. Long-tailed Tit Goldcrest Treecreeper Special thanks Occurrence (the percentage of gardens) of three different species over the years of the Garden Our sincere thanks to our Dublin and Bird Survey from 1994 to present. These species often flock together and their fortunes are closely linked. All three were recorded in a high number of gardens last winter. Wicklow Branch members who so generously gave of their time to help enter Irish subspecies of Coal Tit (87%). Kestrel numbers dropped slightly from 6.1% data from paper survey forms – we could not Long-tailed Tits (a species not closely to 5.3% of gardens, their lowest figure since have done it without you! related to the other tits) in winter form roving the current format of the survey was adopted Special thanks also to our new Garden Bird flocks that often include Goldcrests and – a reflection of their continued national Survey sponsors, the Ballymaloe Group I Treecreepers. All three species were decline. recorded in particularly high numbers last Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen in winter. Long-tailed Tits were at their most 14 gardens last winter, compared to just four prevalent in nine years (over 50% of gardens), in 2016/17, and are likely to appear in even Your comments while Goldcrests were at their highest in 13 more gardens this coming winter on the back years (44%) and Treecreepers at their highest of a seemingly good breeding season. The 2017/18 survey period showed ever levels (13%). Their numbers did not differ athe highest number of species here for much during the snow, so their abundance Conclusion any year to date. The Great Black- must have been a result of a particularly good So there you have it – winter 2017/18 proved backed Gull was a first. Blackcaps, breeding season in 2017. Unfortunately, being to be a very interesting one for many species Redwings, Goldcrests, Jackdaws, small-bodied and largely insectivorous species, and it really illustrated the importance of Starlings and Herring Gulls were up. the cold spell is likely to have impacted their gardens to much of our wildlife during the Grey Wagtail and Linnet were absent, numbers in advance of the 2018 breeding harshest weather conditions. By planting or while Greenfinch, Siskin and Redpoll season. Similarly, species like Stonechat and maintaining your trees and hedges, and by numbers were low.” Wren, and maybe even Robin and Dunnock, putting out food and water, you are giving Bob Aldwell, Blackrock, Dublin will have been hit hard by the snow in certain those birds a helping hand when they need it locations, though may have managed to the most. Doing the garden bird survey each compensate to some extent with a good Of course, last year’s results do make us yaear encourages us to keep a close eye breeding season. wonder what this winter will bring for our on the birds coming into our garden garden birds – so please make sure to take and I am sure that if it were not for the Best of the rest part and help us find out! enjoyable challenge, we would miss a Jays were seen in over 9% of gardens, Over a thousand people took part in the continuing a recent run of very good years. survey last winter, with 806 gardens sending in lot. It also encourages us to put out more variety of foods for the birds.” Paul Cutler, Ballon, Carlow 120

th 100 The week of the 26 of February waas the week we had snow and Storm 80 Emma – so lots of birds arrived to pick 60 under the hedges. Most surprising was a Snipe, which visited twice.” 40 Margaret B Murphy, Ballincollig, Cork 20

0 … Then came the very cold weather 5 6 7 8 9 0 6 9 1 2 3 4 8 2 4 7 8 5 1 3 5 0 6 7 a 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 and Linnets appeared out of nowhere. ------4 5 6 7 8 9 5 8 0 1 2 3 7 1 3 6 7 4 0 2 4 9 5 6 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 A Meadow Pipit made an appearance

Blackbird SongThrush Mistle Thrush Redwing Fieldfare and as the snow under the apple trees began to thaw, Redwings moved in and turned over leaves in search of food.” Occurrence (the percentage of gardens) of five thrush species over the years of the Garden Anne O’Neill, Mallow, Cork Bird Survey from 1994 to present. Note the higher occurrence of thrush species in gardens in particularly cold winters.

22 WINGS WINTER 2018