Henry's Wildlife and Nature

 Over the weekend we have taken part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2021 run by the RSPB. This involved sitting for an hour to record the maximum number of a type of bird in your garden at any one time. I did it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to see the difference. We certainly have a lot of sparrows, the most we recorded were 23. We have noticed a new visitors in our garden, Chaffinches. Male Chaffinch My Bar Charts Me marking down the birds My Top Trumps cards I have noticed House Sparrows were the most common with 23 and the Wren was the least with 1. We only saw one of each of these birds as well - Collared Dove, Coal Tit and Woodpigeon. There are usually more of these birds in our garden, just they didn't show up for the count. Here are some photos of birds in our garden.   Jackdaw Collared Dove Woodpigeon Female Blackbird Dunnock Robin

As we've been walking more locally recently, we have spotted 3 Buzzards that live in our area. The other day I was lucky enough to spot one close up, and flew over me! I was able to get a photo. Buzzards Buzzards scientific name is Buteo buteo and are the UK's most common bird of prey. You can find them almost anywhere but are most common in Scotland, Wales, Lake District and South West England. Their colours vary from dark to light brown, but their distinctive dark wingtips help identify them.  Buzzards often eat small mammals, birds and carrion, but will also eat reptiles, amphibians, large insects and earthworms. Their distinctive call can often be heard and sounds a bit like a cat. It reminds me of the old western films with the birds of prey circling over. Buzzards make a few different nests within their territory, usually 1 to 3 but can sometimes be a lot more. They will often nest on rocky cliffs or trees. The nest is made up of twigs, branches and heather and is often a

This week, I have been set a task by my school to make a bird feeder ready for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch . We made our bird feeders today and here's some picture of mine and Tommy's. My bird feeder is a dispenser so when the bottom is empty, some more seeds fall out. Tommy's bird feeder has a little hole so the birds go in to get seeds. We also made one out of string, pipe cleaner and Cheerios. Our school is encouraging us to join in with the Big School Birdwatch which takes place on the 6 January - 21st February 2021. We are also going to do the Big Garden Birdwatch as a family which takes place on the 25th January - 27th January. Lately we have noticed some long-tailed tits in the garden, hopefully they will come for the hour long Birdwatch.

 It's 2021 and I'm starting the same as last year, birds! Here are some of the birds I have seen recently. Redwing Redwings are a type of Thrush and are normally found in Scandinavia and Iceland. They leave there around September to escape the harsh winters. When they arrive in the UK exhausted from the flight, they can often be seen munching on fruit and berries. Sometimes, Redwings can live to be 18 years old! Redwing get their name from the dark orange/red markings under their wings. Their easiest identification is the white bands round their eyes. I thought I got a picture of a Redwing a week ago, but when I looked back at the image it was just a Song Thrush, as it didn't have the white band round its eye. Little Egret These types of Heron are most common by sea, but will feed by rivers and marshes.  They were once a rare visitor to the UK from the Mediterranean, but are now common near the coasts. Although I saw this one by my house which is about 15 miles from the coa