Species Account
Extract from Bird Report 2024
Very common resident and winter visitor. Included in 86.7% of BirdTrack lists. The East of England long-term trend is increasing +22%*. The long-term trend for Bedfordshire is also increasing +15%. (Green list).
Nest building was first observed on 2nd April and was last seen on 17th August, although undoubtedly is under-recorded, with breeding taking place throughout the year. As usual, they were in all of the gardens during the Summer Garden Bird Survey and undoubtedly bred in many of those too.
On 27th October, vismig counts included 2,350 over Sharpenhoe Clappers, 700 over The Pinnacle, 620 over Deacon Hill and 432 at Priory CP. More counts at the start of November included 935 over Houghton Brook Pools on the 1st, 1,500 over The Pinnacle on the 3rd and 926 over Priory CP on the 11th. Further observations on the 12th included 4,000 over Sharpenhoe
