BirdWatch 2024

The teddy bears have just finished filling in their counting sheet for this year's Big Garden BirdWatch. They spent an hour this morning just sitting still (a bit difficult for them of course!) and watching very carefully to see which birds appeared in their garden.

Luckily, all their preparation from the previous week meant that they didn't have very much more to do before they sat down in front of the biggest window in the house (they were all very keen to be able to see what was going on). They had already checked there was enough food in the bird feeders, and the birdbath didn't have ice on it and was full to the brim with fresh, clean water. Now all they had to do was wait.

It wasn't long before some of them started to get a little restless. Being inside with the windows closed meant that they didn't have to be too quiet, but as well as chatting they wanted to be able to run around and let off some steam. After Scary had promised that they could go outside after their hour was up, they settled down again.

"Where are all the birds?" complained Edward within the first few minutes. "With all that lovely food outside, I expected that there would be hordes of birds around now."

"Actually," said Bubbles, "big groups of birds aren't referred to as hordes. Would you like to know some of the interesting group names of different birds though?"

The bears were always very interested in fun facts so they encouraged Bubbles to continue.

"Well," Bubbles began, "you probably already know that a group of flying geese is called a skein or 'V' (because a folded-back hank - or skein - of wool looks like the 'V' shape they fly in). But they don't fly in that shape just because they like the letter, but because it helps them to fly just behind and to the side of their friends in front so they can benefit from their slipstream which means they don't have to put so much effort into their flying."

"That doesn't seem to be very fair on the geese flying at the front," said Lizzie sadly.

"Oh, it's quite alright," replied Bubbles, quickly cheering her up, "they take it in turns to be the one in front!"

"That's alright then," said Lizzie, pleased that the geese were sharing the hard work.

"What other bird groups do you know?" Edward asked, intrigued now.

"Some birds have lots of different group names depending what part of the country you live in," Bubbles explained, "but some that I know are - a charm of goldfinches, a wisdom of owls, a quilt of eider ducks, a quarrel of sparrows and a mischief of magpies."

"I can see why the goldfinches are called a charm," said Richard. "They are very charming little birds."

"Yes," said Henry, "and a quarrel of sparrows is appropriate because their chirping makes them sound as if they are all quarrelling with each other all the time!"

Everyone laughed. It did seem that the group names were usually quite fitting.

"The feathers from eider ducks are quite often used in making quilt fillings," explained Bubbles, "you've all heard of eiderdowns that you have on your beds to keep you warm at night."

"But why is a group of magpies known as a mischief?" Vicky asked quietly. "Are they very naughty birds?"

"No, it's because in the Olden Days", Bubbles answered, "it was believed that the number of magpies seen could bring either good or bad luck depending upon whether they were up to mischief or not. One magpie was considered to be bad luck and people would offset this by greeting it as 'Mr Magpie' and asking how 'Mrs Magpie' was. There is a rhyme you can learn about what different numbers of magpies mean when you see them. Would you like to hear it?"

"Oh, yes please!" said all the bears together.

"OK, here we go," Bubbles responded and continued in a sing-song voice. "One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, And seven for a secret never to be told."

"That's a great rhyme," said Charlie, "but what happens if you see more than seven?"

"I imagine you'd have to do some arithmetic and work out which number would divide most exactly into the amount of magpies!" suggested Bubbles. "But I'm not sure I want to go to all that trouble when I see a big group of them! Arithmetic is not really my strong point!"

"And the one about owls?" asked Custard.

"Well, according to Greek mythology, owls were thought to be wise creatures. The symbol of their goddess of wisdom, Athena, is an owl. Now look out!" Bubbles added urgently, "here come our first birds!"

And the bears all settled down to start their counting, having learned some interesting things about the birds they might see.

Have you done your counting for the Big Garden BirdWatch? Or are you going to do it this weekend? Have fun!