Llandegfedd's Winter Feeding Station project is coming close to the end and as a result, I've got a nice collection of Data coming on. As you'll know already at this point, it was started in the hope to aid our Marsh Tit population. With only 1 MT visiting the feeders since the start of the project, nobody has really had great views of the bird since the first 2 weeks of the project. That doesn't however mean it isn't attending the station and I've got a theory as to why this is the case.
Below you'll see a chart that I've put together using the data from my sightings sheet. You'll notice down the left hand side the time of day and left to right is start to finish of the project.
Note that the Marsh Tit (in blue) started visiting early but was becoming a regular right up until 1pm until the Sparrowhawk started to visit more often. The Sparrowhawk is literally the polar opposite and started visiting later in the evening but starting coming in earlier in the day. This has forced the very intelligent Marsh Tit to only come in very early in the morning and the last two sightings were all before 7am when it's still dark! Very clever Birds Marsh Tits and this clearly shows just how intelligent they really are.
This chart goes to show how important a simple sightings page can be which is why I try to encourage everyone visiting to contribute. It takes a couple minutes and could unravel hidden secrets and potentially new science... who knows?