It is a bit too late to flag it up for your participation but I wanted to note that Jane and I took place in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. We spent an hour on Saturday afternoon gazing out of our window and noting the maximum number of each species of bird that we saw during that time.

It was not the most enthralling display and my attempts to entice more visitors with an extra handful of seed only attracted a collared dove, which would probably have visited anyway and hoovered up most of that food. It is a shame we didn’t get the four blackbirds we had in the garden on Sunday morning or the seven starlings who were out there this morning.

However, it is not a competition. Hopefully our results, when combined with thousands from the rest of the UK recorded over the weekend, will help the RSPB get a clear picture of how our various feathered friends are doing up and down the country.