The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch is the world's biggest bird survey and regularly attracts nearly half a million participants. The records from people counting birds in their gardens provides a vital snapshot of the UK's birds each winter. The Big Garden Birdwatch 2010 will be held on 30th and 31st of January,
In 1979 the RSPB asked its junior members to spend an hour counting the birds that visited their back gardens over one weekend. The idea was so successful that the survey has been an annual event since then. More than 6 million birds have been counted in the Big Garden Birdwatch and it has given some interesting insights into the populations of birds in Britain.
Although the house sparrow and starling have consistently been the most spotted birds in the survey, the average numbers seen has fallen drastically. Back in the 70s and 80s it was common to see groups of up to 15 sparrows or starlings, now you would be lucky to see 3 or 4.
Song thrushes were also a lot more common in UK gardens and overall garden bird numbers have fallen by 20% in the last 4 years alone. If you want to help stop the decline of common garden British birds then please consider making a donation or joining The RSPB.
Taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch couldn't be simpler. All you need to do is spend an hour spying on the birds in your garden or local park over a weekend in January and record the results which you can them submit online to the RSPB. All the results will then be collated in March and the data used to help them decide which birds they need to focus their conservation work towards.
For more information click here.
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Creating a Bird Friendly Garden
Top 10 Birds - 2009
1. House Sparrow
2. Starling
3. Blackbird
4. Blue Tit
5. Chaffinch
6. Woodpigeon
7. Collared Dove
8. Great Tit
9. Robin
10. Long-tailed Tit
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