How much attention do you pay the birds in your garden?

A quick glance through the kitchen window whilst washing up? A slight nod before heading off to work?

Perhaps you enjoy the sound of their songs, sitting in the sunshine with a good book?

You might be surprised to find that more bird species frequent your (very) local patch than you originally thought.

With most of us currently spending a lot more time at home, now is a great chance to get invested in the local birdlife. Whether you incorporate a bit of bird watching into your home-schooling session or as a much-needed moment of solitude. Read on for an introduction to the regulars and find out how you get the most from a back-garden bird watching session.

The Usual Suspects

The type of birds that visit your garden will depend on the surrounding area but there are few usual suspects to look out for:

· House Sparrows – these cheeky characters, with their brown, cream, black and grey plumage (the males wear little grey caps and black patches on their faces, the females don’t) can often be seen squabbling around the feeders.

· Blackbirds – usually seen hopping around on the floor in search of worms. The females are brown in colour compared to the black of the males with their golden beaks. Listen out for their rich flutey song, which they usually sing from high trees or shed roofs.

· Woodpigeon – there’s something quite charming about the chunky woodpigeon, with their grey feathers and pink tinted chest. They remind me of well-dressed gentlemen as they gather round the garden to feast on any seed or grain.

· Robin – a feisty visitor, with a firey red-breast, ready to defend its territory from any other robins in the area. Interestingly robins sing all year round, and sometimes at night under the glow of the streetlights.

· Blue Tits – a small, but welcome splash of colour in the garden. Well-known for their blue and yellow plumage and a strong ‘tea-tea-tea-lilly-lilly-lilly-lilly’ song.

· Great Tits – a little larger than the blue tit with a bright yellow chest with a black stripe down the middle and black head with white cheeks. They also come with another easy song to learn, listen out for their ‘teacher, teacher, teacher’ calls when they visit.

· Long Tailed Tit – arguably one of the cutest garden visitors. Easily identified by their long tails, round bodies and little pink eyelids, they travel in groups and perform acrobatic displays on bird feeders and surrounding shrubbery.

These are just a small selection of birds to look out for, but there are also plenty of other visitors; don’t forget to look out for the less brightly coloured wrens and dunnocks that skulk in the undergrowth. You might find your feeders visited by chaffinches, goldfinch and greenfinches.

If you are lucky enough to live by woodlands keep an eye out for lesser spotted woodpeckers, nuthatches, treecreepers and perhaps even tawny owls. Farmland residencies might bring yellowhammers or linnets to visit.

Your garden might even host the excitement of a sparrow hawk flyby as it pursues smaller songbirds as its prey.

Make the Most of Your Birdwatching

One of the best ways to kickstart your garden birdwatching is getting some bird feeders set up. To begin with you might want to place them away from the house, so that the birds can get used to them without too much disruption, gradually moving them closer. Be sure to include a variety of high quality to food, as different birds eat different things. Find out more information here.

Keep a set of binoculars handy, along with a notebook, to not only jot down your sightings, but to make notes on the birds that are a bit trickier to identify. Make notes on their size, colour, beak shape and behaviour and then check your findings in a good field guide or with the RSPB’s bird finder.

If you’re feeling adventurous then why not set up a make-shift birdwatching hide in a quiet corner of the garden. You can use a tent, pallets or even an old sheet, but it’s essential to stay really quiet. You don’t want to scare off your new feathered friends.

Perhaps that’s a particular bird that sparks your interest; you might find yourself taken by the treecreeper or swayed by the starling – why not start your own garden bird project. Collect pictures and drawings, research the species and compare your findings with your own observations.

There’s a lot to be learned from our gardens and the visitors that we have to them. Not only are the birds that visit a pleasure to see, they are a great way to spark the interest of the younger generations, and a perfect reminder that the natural world is much closer than we might realise.