A great spotted woodpecker – and a sparrow hawk above – were just two of the species recorded during a Barnet Big Garden Bird Watch.

A sparrow hawk seen hovering and alighting in the trees disrupted the start of the Big Garden Bird Watch which was held at the Barnet Environment Centre in Byng Road.

Once it had flown off and they no longer felt threatened by a bird of prey, smaller birds returned to the centre’s bird table.

At the end of the hour allocated for the watch, a total of 13 different species had been recorded.

Ian Sharp – above, far left – group leader of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for Potters Bar and Barnet – said he was impressed by the centre’s nature reserve.

It was his first visit to the Byng Road centre to assist with a Big Garden Bird Watch, and he was delighted with the range of birds they had seen and identified.

To have seen a sparrow hawk – and the fear it created among smaller birds – was always a special moment and another treat had been to see a great spotted woodpecker.

Other birds seen during the watch included three great tits, four fieldfares, a redwing, a gold finch, and a blackbird, plus two of the inevitable parakeets.

Ian said that so far this winter he had not detected signs of the invasion of redwings, fieldfares and siskins from as far afield as Scandinavia which had been reported in some parts of the country due to hard winter weather in Europe.

However, just after finishing the one hour allocated for the birdwatch, there was great excitement when a small flock of 11 fieldfares was seen flying into the nature reserve.

What Ian said he had found so encouraging was the environment centre’s success in attracting a younger generation of bird watchers and its extensive programme of visits by pupils from schools around Barnet.