What's the top bird in your garden - i.e., the one frequenting it most often and in the greatest numbers? There are significant differences between the count in the survey of garden birds published by Wings, winter issue of the magazine of Birdwatch Ireland and personal observation. Naturally enough, for they survey 1,200 gardens. The magazine notes that their survey has been in operation for five years, starting out as a count of winter garden bird feeding, but expanding into a survey of all birds using the garden. Over 1,200, remember, and that's quite a span. Top birds in 1998/9 were blackbird, robin, blue tit, chaffinch, great tit and magpie, each occurring in over 90 per cent of gardens. Other common species included greenfinch, coal tit, wren, dunnock, house sparrow, song thrush and jackdaw, occurring in over 70 per cent of gardens. In all 71 species were recorded. A few people saw brambling, merlin, buzzard and long-eared owl. Some species were as widely distributed in the suburbs as in the country but occurred in much higher numbers in the country. Greenfinch, wren, song thrush and rook were each twice as numerous in the rural scene. In the first three years of the survey, only birds at feeders were counted, but in the past two years all species in the gardens were included. The magazine observes that blackbird, wren and goldcrest do not typically use feeders. Special note over the five years was taken of two species - song thrust and magpie, the first because of fears of a decline in numbers, the other because of perceptions that it was increasing. The song thrush figures need more time to give an accurate picture, but the magpie, often cited as a cause of songbird decline, is stable.
The goldfinch is rising. Normally not associated with gardens, it was indeed common in the early years of the survey but latterly has increased "dramatically" in both rural and suburban gardens. One rural garden in Meath (not part of the survey) has noted for the past two years a huge increase in coal tits. In fact, it is probably the preponderant bird of all clinging to the feeders and swarming over the ivy and other climbers. Greenfinches descend like a tribe from the hills and push everything else out of the way, but when they go, the coal tit is still there. Rooks come around and feed off the bits on the ground and occasionally try to claw a way on to one of the bigger feeders. Without success.