It's a Good One of the Blackbird.

The title is a reference to a pet hate, the appalling group photograph that finds its way into the family album because, "It's a good one of our Jimmy."

Today's blip is completely devoid of artistic merit, I took it to be able to count the sparrows on our lawn during the Big Garden Bird Watch. Their habits changed this winter, they used to frequent the hawthorn hedge at the side of the house but, have recently taken to congregating on the lawn at the back when we feed the bigger birds. Last year, the method of counting them was me walking round the side of the house and guessing at the number of birds that flew away.

Our count this year was:
31 sparrows
11 jackdaws
11 blackbirds
4 rooks
4 wood pigeons
2 robins
2 blue tits
2 chaffinches
1 starling
1 coal tit and
1 collared dove

A great tit put in an appearance just after the polls closed.

The main absentees were the goldfinches and black-headed gulls; in the past we have recorded 20 or more, but then we used to have that number of starlings, rooks and jackdaws as well. It is the starlings that give the most cause for concern, their decline is part of a national trend, the others come and go with the seasons and the weather.
However, we must be satisfied with our haul, most people do well to record a total of 10 birds during their hour.