Nunhead Cemetery bird count, Friday 19.11.10 (8.40am, cool, bright, no wind) Roll call:
Ring-necked Parakeet 13, Robin 9, Magpie 15, Woodpigeon 11, Carrion Crow 9, Wren 15, Blackbird 9, Great Tit 21, Jay 3, Goldcrest 5, Greater-spotted Woodpecker 3, Mistle Thrush 1, Dunnock 1, Long-tailed Tit 19, Blue Tit 5.
I have been completing a bird count in Nunhead Cemetery for a while now and always find it a great way to start the day. The premise is simple: once or twice a month I visit the site, I arrive as early as possible (to coincide with the peak time for bird song/activity), walk a pre-mapped route of the site at a steady pace and record every bird I see or hear. I then submit my results to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Birdtrack scheme.
Surveying in this way has been happening on the site for a number of years and is a great way to build up a detailed picture of bird population patterns. It is not an exact science; it would be very hard to record EVERY bird present for numerous reasons but it does allow for comparisons to be made. With data collected every month we can see which species are present and how their numbers fluctuate over time. Analysis of the results can reveal subtle or distinct trends which can then be related to local or nationwide conservation issues as a whole.
The above list may not be bursting with rarities but it is what you might expect from a predominantly wooded habitat within an urban area. When it comes to birds, I’d suggest that finding what you’d expect to find is not such a bad thing.
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