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Birdwatch Count, Goodbye & GBBD

The annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is at the end of the month and I have heaps to chat about but I’m off to a slow blogging start for 2014. My plan was (still is) to share observations at the bird feeders in a particular way to help and inspire people to take part with a count. The birds would benefit too which is the best outcome 🙂

Bird feeding tip #1 – make sure feeders can be seen, grouping helps.

Writing a garden blog really can benefit all that grows and lives in our gardens. One garden visitor leads to another. One garden photo leads to many more too and garden videos bring observations to a different level again. Then the planting and feeding experiments come and this closer look at what’s been going on in our gardens brings surprise visitors – who would have thought?

Who would have thought that, 7 years ago, 37 species of birds would be seen visiting my small, town garden? I definitely wouldn’t have! Like many people about to join in with their 1st Birdwatch count, it all began quite simply with a couple of hanging bird feeders (when my daughter was doing a school bird project over a summer).

By November I took the blogging plunge and began sharing our garden visitors. Regular blog visitors will know that shirls gardenwatch began simply too – as a way to share images of the small charismatic Robin with my homesick friend in Australia. After a few blog posts (short at that time), I emailed her the blog link and she thought it one of the kindest things anyone had done for her at that time. Knowing I had one interested blog visitor then kept me going and I’ve had a ball gardenwatching ever since.

A fb banner Robin image at the waterfall of my small pond that my friend ‘liked’ a lot 🙂

It is with great sadness, here on my blog, I wish to say thank-you and goodbye to my kind, well-loved and respected friend who died in a tragic accident on the 1st working week day of 2014. Her family will be in shock for some time to come. I am holding on to the happy photo images in my head of her visit to Scotland during Autumn last year and the ball she had on her visit to New York for a week before returning to Australia.

Rest in Peace my friend, here in my Scottish garden 2014 will be an interesting gardenwatching year with my wildlife pond waiting for new life to find it. I will continue to feed the birds sharing stories and images on my blog hoping to inspire bird feeding in more gardens. As always, I will have thoughts of you when taking photographs and video of the Robin xxx ooo

GBBD Jan 2014: Pieris, Hellebore Christmas rose, Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’,
Hellebore orientalis, Iris reticulate (yay – I finally planted some),
Autumn Joy sedum thinking its Spring!

To my blogging friends, I’d like to wish you all a belated Happy New Year and a Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for today. It’s not been a particularly cold January 15th 2014 in my Perthshire garden – a bit dreich though. We haven’t much in the way of flowers here but the plants think spring is on the way – big mistake. I look forward to seeing what has been in flower with you all soon 🙂

This post was published by Shirley for shirls gardenwatch in January 2014.

7 thoughts on “Birdwatch Count, Goodbye & GBBD

  1. We have also had an unusually cold January. It has been spitting snow all day today. I will be ready for spring. My poor hellebores are all mush. It will take awhile to recover. Sorry to hear about your friend. I always look forward to seeing your birds and other creatures that visit your garden. Happy GBBD.

  2. So sorry to hear of the tragic loss of your friend.

    Like L I had to look up dreich. I tried to listen to a pronunciation but there seemed as many ways of saying it as links I found.

  3. Hello everyone, thanks for all your comments especially when I have been away from my blog a while 🙂

    Lisa, we have seen images of the cold and snow that has hit the US. I have been thinking of you and my other blogging friends in the US. It’s not been seasonally cold here at all – I suspect by the end of Jan the hard frosts will come and February will bring snow. It is rain, high tides and flooding that has hit the UK with strong winds bringing damage too. Some parts in the South of England have been very hard hit – I’ve been thinking of my UK blogging friends too. Thanks, the news of my friend was quite a shock to everyone. Thank-you, I am especially happy to share my birds and creatures with you – your comments over the years have also helped me keep on blogging 😀

    L and Sue, Thanks to you both, yesterday was the first time I had logged on to my blog in a while and I forgot my password has my friend’s name encoded in it. Tragically, my friend was crushed by her own car in a driveway, whilst taking groceries out of her car boot for an elderly client at work. I love the word dreich (as did she using it to describe Aussie days too) and it is still in pretty much in common use up here in Scotland. I love using it myself and smiled at you both looking it up – especially you Sue listening to the pronunciation. If I were to try and write it, I’d perhaps say ‘drreeeechh’ 😀

  4. Shirely,
    I'm sorry to read that you've lost such a marvellous friend. Such sad news. It's nice that you will always be reminded of her through your blog.
    Dreich – that one, along with Drookit always raises an eyebrow to two 🙂
    I'll be looking forward to taking part in the Bird Count too although I'm very far from having 37 species. Maybe one day.
    I hope you have a plentiful count 🙂

  5. Oh that's very sad news Shirl, I'm so sorry to hear that.
    I look forward to following you this year to see your lovely garden and hear stories about your visiting birds.

  6. Oh Shirl what a sad start to the new year for you ((()))
    It must be of some comfort to you that you were able to spend some precious time with your dear friend last year. I know what dreich means only because I have a Scottish friend who now lives way down south but still remains close to her roots. It's such a brilliant descriptive word. I hope that what is to come of 2014 treats you, your loved ones and feathered friends kindly xxx

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