I recently downloaded a bird-spotting app called Merlin. It’s free and it identifies birds from their song. Inspired by the work of Ian Rotherham in Graves Park I took a short walk in Norfolk Park today and identified 11 different birds. I’m not sure if this is particularly good or not, but to help monitor local biodiversity I am aiming to repeat this at various times of the year to see if the numbers rise or fall.
Today I found
Most of these were in the ancient woodland of Jervis Lumb alongside the stream. But the Robin and Blue tits were in the Turkey Oak trees. Thanks to Wikipedia for the photos.
With insects declining by 60% in the last 20 years, birds too are finding it more difficult to find the food they need. It’s important to try and monitor what is happening locally to our feathered friends.
12th July
I visited again today for a longer stroll. These are the birds I hadn’t recorded last time. I have made a spreadsheet to record my results.
26/07/2023
The birds were very quiet today, mainly due to 3 very noisy lesser-spotted humans, but I did find one new species.
9th August 2023
One more to add to my collection today.
3rd January 2024 I added
Redwing
27th March 2024
My collection is still increasing! Today I found
By Andreas Trepte – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15264293
By © Francis C. Franklin / CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31627034
and a Mistle Thrush
By Yuriy75 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8897506
That’s 24 different species altogether so far. You can see my spreadsheet here.
5th March 2025
Just added one more to the list today, which I am surprised I haven’t found before. A Dunnock.
15th March 2025
Great news! Swift boxes will soon be installed in Norfolk Park.
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That’s great. I often see common buzzard overhead and occasionally in the trees. Also tree creepers and nuthatch.
Yesterday we had a greater spotted woodpecker on our bird feeder and later a male sparrow hawk on top of the bird feeder! Fantastic for an inner city garden.
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