Rowdy elements

I felt a bit duck-and-goosed out today so I had a bit of a lazy day.

Magpies

I promised someone I'd have a look at the stats for my local magpies to see if there's been an increase in numbers. It turns out my suspicion that the population's been pretty stable was correct:

Magpies: peak weekly count 2000-2011 (max. 9)

Magpies: peak weekly count 2012-2021 (max. 8)

The peaks in Autumn and Winter are mostly hit-and-run visits from the small gang of unpaired birds that bounce around between the school, the station and the local allotments. Most of them tend to be elbowed out by the breeding pairs come Spring. The Summer peaks are young birds visiting with their parents.

Magpies: peak weekly count, Lostock Park and waste ground (max. 29)

I had a look at the stats for my local patch to see how that compared. The population's also pretty stable but the seasonal pattern's different, mostly because the gangs of unpaired birds tend to be fixtures throughout the year.

Parakeets

While I was at it I had a quick nosy at the stats for ring-necked parakeets. The recent, explosive. colonisation of the Mersey Valley is startlingly obvious.

Ring-necked parakeets, records per year 2015 - 2021