Our fourth annual bird-watching event, held on Sunday 26th January, recorded the highest number of birds yet.

We ran the event as part of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch weekend with local experts from the Knutsford Ornithological Society. We covered the whole of The Heath, including the woodland, by splitting into three groups and then collating our results after observing for one hour.


Our keen-eyed spotters saw twenty different species – one more than last year.
A new species was the Redwing. Though it is not resident, the flock was moving through on its normal winter migration.
The most striking find was the increased number of Long-tailed Tits. It is evidence of a well-established and thriving population of these charming birds on The Heath.
Below is a yearly comparison of the species showing the number of individuals seen at any one time:
Species | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Blackbird | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Blackheaded Gull | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
Blue Tit | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
Bullfinch | 1 | |||
Buzzard | 3 | 1 | ||
Carrion Crow | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Chaffinch | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Coal Tit | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
Collared Dove | 1 | |||
Feral Pigeon | 2 | |||
Goldcrest | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
Goldfinch | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Great Spotted Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Great Tit | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
Jackdaw | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Jay | 1 | |||
Kestrel | 1 | |||
Long-tailed Tit | 4 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
Magpie | 4 | 6 | 3 | 10 |
Nuthatch | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Pied Wagtail | 2 | |||
Redwing | 5 | |||
Robin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Song Thrush | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Treecreeper | 1 | 1 | ||
Waxwing | 2 | |||
Wood Pigeon | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
Wren | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
Grand Total | 47 | 48 | 53 | 64 |
Kevin Griffiths