Big Garden Birdwatch in Balquhidder

A wildlife haven and all the motivation I needed to start taking photos again.

I’m Rebecca, a hobby photographer and writer from Scotland. If you love nature and exploring, I welcome you to Side Quests to explore the wild through storytelling and photography.

Feeling inspired and motivated enough to get up, get dressed, and head outside with the camera has been very low the last few months for me. As much as I love the season of Winter, when it’s miserable weather and getting dark at 3 pm, I just want to snuggle in bed and read all day. So, picking up my camera and heading outside is never at the top of my to-do list. But I recently found that inspiration, and I didn’t even have to leave the comfort of home…

I have contributed to the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch for the last few years—a citizen science project that collects vital data on garden birds from across the UK. I usually take part from my home in Glasgow, knowing that the House Sparrows and Starlings would take the top spot. My usual noisy visitors who enjoy the delicacy of sunflower hearts (and nothing else, thank you.)

The birdwatch takes place every January on the last weekend. People are asked to spend one hour counting the birds they see and submitting their results to the RSPB. The data is then collated and used as a way of monitoring bird numbers. House Sparrows has been at the top for several years despite their numbers in the UK falling to critical levels.

This year, the weekend of the watch, I find myself away from my home. Instead, I am staying in a bothy in Balquhidder, a tiny village in Stirlingshire. A forest is just outside my door. A forest that is visited by many birds and wildlife from dawn till dusk.

I woke up early because the noise of the birds on the feeders tempted me too much, and I couldn’t get back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. It was still a bit dark as well, but peeking through the blinds and seeing a fuzzy orange tail belonging to a red squirrel was all the motivation I needed to get a move on.

I made a cup of tea, set up the wooden table and chair by the doors that open up onto the decking next to the feeders, and grabbed a quilt, my camera, and a box of Lemon Melt biscuits. As it was just after 8am, it was still rather dark looking down into the forest, and there was light sleet falling from the sky. But the birds were already coming down to take their fill.

I managed to spot 67 birds in under an hour. With so much going on, I wish I had about eight eyes to see everything.

A crow chased a buzzard over the garden at one point. The crow squawking and the buzzard cawing. Crows always mob buzzards to get them away from their patch. Buzzards, although bigger, are more timid and fly away. They prefer to avoid conflict.

Then there were 11 long-tailed tits gathered around the suet feeder, and their tails were all overlapping as they ate. These fuzzy puffballs, with yellow rings around their eyes and flashes of pink over their feathers, look like lollipop sticks.

A little Robin was curious and came up to the door to have a peek in. As usual behaviour, they are always curious about humans.

A pheasant was calling on the farmland behind me. I’d seen him the other day under the feeder trying to catch the falling seed.

And three red squirrels were chasing each other up and down the oak tree, or plodding by the door with their little paws scratching along the decking, and one was rummaging around the forest floor and found a gigantic pinecone to eat.

Oh, and a stoat ran by the window when I was putting up the blinds. My first time seeing one.

A wildlife haven and all the motivation I needed to start taking photos again.

My Big Garden Birdwatch results:

• Chaffinch: 13

• Coal tit: 6

• Blue tit: 6

• Robin: 3

• Great tit: 6

• Nuthatch: 4

• Dunnock: 2

• Jay: 1

• Goldfinch: 1

• Great Spotted Woodpecker: 1

• Blackbird: 2

• Siskin: 4

• Carrion crow: 1

• Common buzzard: 1

• Long-tailed tit: 11

• Treecreeper: 2

Male Chaffinch

Blue Tit

Red Squirrel

Long-tailed Tit

Coal Tit

Female Siskin

Male Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Red Squirrel

Did you do the birdwatch this weekend? If so, who did you see? And if you don’t have the Big Garden Birdwatch where you are, why not spend an hour watching and recording the birds you see from your garden, window, or even your local park? You never know who you will see.

I’m also on Instagram @rebeccabradleyphoto if you’d like to chat and see more of my photography.

Take care,
Rebecca