Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - May 2002 - No 68
Kath Cottingham

I started this in January 2001 for my Llangennech garden and it is proving most interesting. I was encouraged to join after ‘winning’ a prize in a botanical identification competition at National Botanic Garden of Wales organised by David Poulter which I felt most guilty at winning as I had been somewhat assisted by RDP (who was barred from entering)! I felt even more guilty on being told that David, who is BTO Carmarthenshire Representative, had donated the prize himself, so felt that the Garden Birdwatch would be an appropriate use of the money. The Birdwatch encourages me to make daily records which not only prove to be very useful to me personally but also to the BTO in contributing to the national survey. For instance, in winter 2000-2001, I only saw female blackcaps whereas this year (2001-2002) there has been only a single male. The first sighting of a Siskin in the garden for the season was later last year (Feb 4th 2001) than this season (Jan 5th 2002). General trends over the years will prove interesting and will now be supported by sustainable data rather than just casual observations. I am sure that I am seeing a greater variety of garden birds in the garden than ten years ago but I cannot say when I first saw Nuthatches in the garden, nor the first dates for Siskin, Reed Bunting and Goldfinch. With the Garden Birdwatch records I will now be able to monitor changes over the years.