General Chat

Your chance to get involved with the world’s biggest wildlife survey


It’s the return of the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend - the world’s biggest wildlife survey.

The RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch is back on Saturday and Sunday, giving people across the region the chance to be part of the world’s biggest wildlife survey.

Last year, almost 80,000 people in our region took part in Big Garden Birdwatch, and between them counted thousands of birds.

To take part, just spend one hour at any time over Big Garden Birdwatch weekend noting the highest number of each bird species seen in your gardens or local park at any one time.

You then have three weeks to submit the results to the RSPB, either online at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch or in the post. It’s that easy.

Now in its 34th year, the survey provides the RSPB with an important snapshot of garden bird populations in winter and has helped to highlight some dramatic declines in UK garden birds.

In the first survey in 1979, an average of 15 starlings were seen per garden, but that fell to an average of just three starlings per garden in 2012 – the lowest level to date.

House sparrow numbers have fallen by two-thirds over the lifetime of the survey too.

The declines of birds like starlings and sparrows over the last 30 years or so have been alarming, but Big Garden Birdwatch has helped the RSPB to find out more about their numbers and distribution across UK gardens.

Some bird species have fared considerably better over the years. Sightings of popular species like blue tits, great tits and coal tits in gardens have increased since 1979.

Goldfinches, which were absent from the Big Garden Birdwatch top 15 in the early years, have featured regularly as a top 15 species since 2004.


Facts about the Big Garden Birdwatch

• Does time of day matter?

No. The time of day you do your Birdwatch may affect the numbers and variety of birds you see but it won’t affect the overall results. This is because there are so many people counting birds in lots of gardens all over the weekend.

We also get asked about things like the weather and food but because our scientific types (they’re really clever) use information from thousands of gardens the effects of weather, food and time all even themselves out – incredible isn’t it?

• Why don’t I need to record weather on the form?

Because the survey area is so large, somewhere it may be raining, somewhere it could be sunny, elsewhere there might be frost, so we count the weather as a random factor.


• When I carried out my Big Garden Birdwatch, I didn’t see many birds. How can the results be accurate?

Because more than half a million people Step Up for Nature and take part, the results will be very useful and should enable us to spot trends – like we did with house sparrows.

No garden on its own will harm the results as we’re collecting data from hundreds of thousands of gardens; we put it all into a computer, push a few buttons and get the official results.

If you see fewer birds than normal during your Birdwatch, don’t panic – it’s likely that others may see more – so everything will balance up in the end and we’ll get a good picture of garden birds across the UK.

And don’t be tempted to add in that bird you regularly see in your garden but didn’t see during the Birdwatch.

Tom next door or Rita around the corner or Sarah in the next village may have seen it so it will have been recorded already.

Lastly, please submit your results – even if you don’t see anything! That’s really important because then we can see where birds aren’t, as well as where they

are.

So please submit your form, even if it’s blank.


• Why do you only want us to record the birds for one hour?

Because everyone has a spare hour they can give to step up for nature.

By only asking people to spend an hour watching, it’s likely we’ll get lots and lots of people taking part. This means we’ll get a higher number of snapshots of UK gardens and that equals good quality information. And, at the end of the day that’s what we need.


• Why is the Big Garden Birdwatch in winter?

Because that’s the time of the year garden birds need us

most – if it’s really cold it’s likely more birds will come into our gardens looking for shelter and food.


• How does the RSPB use the results?

Once all the results are in, and the scientists have done their stuff, we end up with a picture of bird numbers.

We look at the long-term trends to identify which birds are doing well and which need our help.

What’s really important is we do the survey in the same way each year (like we’ve been doing since 1979).

That way we can compare results to see population trends.


• Register to take part in Big Garden Birdwatch 2013 at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch or call the hotline on 0300 456 8330 to receive a free Big Garden Birdwatch pack.

This year, I'll be taking part in Birdwatch for the first time. So thank you for the clear explanation of how it works.

I suspect all those missing starlings and house sparrows have made their way to my garden, as they outnumber the other visitors by far. Then there's the pigeons.

I'm looking forward to being able to justify an hour spent watching them all.

I'm taking part also. Just received the Birdwatch pack with useful pictures to help recognise the common garden birds, I wonder if the 5 blackbirds, 1 bluetit , two sparrows and the squirrel out there now will be in evidence during the hour :-)

Thank you for the explanation. I have made a note for Sunday. We are due a heavy snowfall later today so it will be interesting to see the visitors to the garden. ......I take it feeding them extra treats won't be classes as cheating-j

We do it most years.

Thanks for the reminder.

My OH spends most days bird watching, so will tell him about this, he will really enjoy being involved.

Carol :-D

Pleased this helped folks, I copied and pasted it from our local newspaper but would imagine it's a standardised report from the RSPB

The birds in our garden are a bit ungrateful, I have put fresh water out every day and lots of food, which I make sure isn't frozen hard. The blackbirds eat a bit, especially the fat balls on the ground, but a lot is being left which is unusual. We have some fat pigeons who come and tuck in and the tits go to the seed feeder but the others don't seem as interested as usual. We moved the garden bench which is covered over, so there is an area free from snow and a lot of the garden is snow free now as it melts away a bit so they have a plenty of choice, maybe too much lol

They do give such pleasure tho and will continue to put out food and water and try to do the count at the weekend.

Lizx

We do it every year, and every year the birds do a disappearing act Lol

Whisper it then Ann, so they don't know you are planning to count them lol


Lizx

nudging

Typical :-D

Every day whilst we had snow my table was very popular, yesterday when I decided to do my hours watch, the snow was clearing & the rarer birds were gone with it. Yes the blue tits were here but very few others, then some idiot decided it was a good time to do a bit of shooting on the farm land behind our house :-|

My count was:
12 Blue Tits
2 Great Tits
2 Robins
1 Song Thrush
3 Black Birds
1 Magpie
1 Wood Pigeon
1 Rook

Not bad but will try again today & send in the best one. I usually get Nuthatches, Chaffinches, Pied Wagtails, Coal Tits & Long Tailed Tits. So will restock my table & see what comes today.
:-)

Did mine about an hour ago.......

2 Nuthatches
1 Black cap
8 M/chaffinches......5 F/Chaffinches
A pair of Blackbirds
6 -7 Blue tits
l Coal tit
1 Dunnock
1 Robin
3 - 4 Sparrows
1 Bullfinch
1 Collared Dove


Not bad:) If only it had been last week, we had about 8 Longtailed tits more blackbirds and sparrow,loads of Woodpigeons etc

We do still get the odd Starling, but not more than a couple at a time and sometimes about 6 - 8 Sparrows.

Thanks for this Liz:)

jude xx

Phew! I'm glad I spotted it's for the UK!

I would go mad trying to count all the birds here.

You don't get too many parrots, kookaburras, bush turkeys or brolgas in the UK :-D

:-D
It is the most seen at one time & I have seen how them parakeets flock

O.h. did ours while I was still sleeping yesterday, we had to go out as soon as I got up so good job he found time to do it, there weren't many birds about tho.

Scozz, lol, what's a brolga? That's the name Kangaroo Dundee goes under - he runs a Kangaroo sanctuary at Alice Springs and there was a programme on about him the other day, marvellous man who looks after orphaned joeys. His real name is Chris Barns.

Lizx

Added mine to the RSPB site this morning.

The squirrels were around a lot so not as many to fill in as I'd hoped.

Results now available
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/results.aspx

Quote from the site

"of house sparrows, also on the red-list, dropped by 17 per cent in gardens compared to 2012, whilst bullfinches and dunnocks, both amber-listed, fell by 20 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Whilst the decline of some species continued, others fared better with garden sightings of siskins, fieldfares and jays up by as much as 85 per cent.
"