The UK's Big Garden Birdwatch Saturday 26 or Sunday 27 January 2008 and is the world's biggest bird survey, so when looking for a suitable end of week video theme, there really wasn't any competition for this weekend.
Thanks to Frank of the TheZanyFilmCompany for providing this week's wonderful video photo-gallery showing 25 of the birds that Brits might expect to see in their gardens (yards) and parks. Last year a staggering 400,000 people took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch by counting 6 million birds in 236,000 gardens. This year it is thought that there might be over half a million participants. Frank's video is accompanied by the relaxing concerto for pinaforte & orchestra KV466 Allegro by W.A.Mozart; conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler, Yvonne Lefebure piano.
Taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch is simple. All that participants need to do is to watch their garden or local park for just one hour, at any time on either Saturday 26 or Sunday 27 January 2008, recording the highest number of each species seen (not counting those flying over) at any one time. Only the maximum number of each species seen at any one time, is recorded, because then the same bird cannot be counted more than once.
The RSPB counting sheet can be used to help keep track of how many birds have been seen. The sheet has pictures of the most common birds seen in British gardens and spaces to tick off how many of each species are seen together. Don't send the counting sheet back to the RSPB, it is just to help participants record their counts, from 26 January 2008 enter the counts online, using a simple results form.
To download the recording sheet, you need Adobe Reader version 4 or higher. This software is safe, easy to instal and available free from the Adobe website so, if you don't have it on your computer already, just download a copy now.
