Post by Urban Warrior on Apr 28, 2006 15:04:16 GMT
Record breaking survey soars higher
The results reveal more than 470,000 people, including 86,000 children, watched their gardens and local parks during the our Big Garden Birdwatch on 28-29 January.
A staggering 8.1 million birds from 80 different species were spotted, ranging from the common blackbird to the more unusual blackcap. More than 270,000 gardens were surveyed, the equivalent of 7,000 football pitches.
Richard Bashford, Big Garden Birdwatch co-ordinator, said, 'It's fantastic that there is so much interest in the wildlife around us with more people than ever enjoying the birds in their gardens. Even in the most built-up areas where you might not expect people to watch birds, Big Garden Birdwatch is extremely well supported. In Greater London, nearly 30,000 people spotted 400,000 birds this year.'
Sharp decline for table leaders
Despite Big Garden Birdwatch going from strength to strength, the same cannot be said for some of the UK's garden birds. Where the number of participants has continued to grow, the RSPB has recorded a sharp decline in the number of some birds seen in our gardens since 1979.
'It's fantastic that there is so much interest in the wildlife around us with more people than ever enjoying the birds in their gardens'Although the house sparrow retained its top spot this year as the most common garden bird, its numbers are still massively down from levels at the beginning of Big Garden Birdwatch. With an average of just 4.41 sparrows seen per garden this year, compared to an average of 10 in 1979, the house sparrow has seen a decline of 56%.
Having dropped off the top spot in 2004, the starling continued to decline in 2006, with numbers per garden down to a quarter of those recorded in gardens in 1979.
Wren numbers have increased by 140% since the first survey in 1979.
Good news for some garden birds
It's not all bad news. The greenfinch and wren have both seen their numbers increase over the past 27 years by 67% and 140% respectively, and many people noted larger numbers of blackbirds and song thrushes, probably due to colder winter weather this year. In fact, the blackbird was also the most widespread species, recorded in 94% of all gardens.
Richard added, 'Some more unusual species were also commoner in our gardens this year. For example, the number of siskins was up by 483% from last year, and bramblings were up by 371%. This highlights the importance of our gardens to birds coming to the UK in search of food and shelter and escaping the harsh winter weather on the continent.'
In addition to the big increases seen in Big Garden Birdwatch, more than 1,300 schools involving 35,000 children and their teachers took part in Big Schools' Birdwatch. Children, with the blessing of their teacher, spent an hour gazing out of their classroom window to count the birds that share their school environment. The full results for the Schools' Birdwatch will be out in early April.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch aims to find the most commonly seen garden birds. Wild birds are a fantastic indicator of the health of the environment and the survey requires only one hour to take part, producing a snapshot of winter garden bird populations.
More information can be found at .
www.rspb.org.uk
The results reveal more than 470,000 people, including 86,000 children, watched their gardens and local parks during the our Big Garden Birdwatch on 28-29 January.
A staggering 8.1 million birds from 80 different species were spotted, ranging from the common blackbird to the more unusual blackcap. More than 270,000 gardens were surveyed, the equivalent of 7,000 football pitches.
Richard Bashford, Big Garden Birdwatch co-ordinator, said, 'It's fantastic that there is so much interest in the wildlife around us with more people than ever enjoying the birds in their gardens. Even in the most built-up areas where you might not expect people to watch birds, Big Garden Birdwatch is extremely well supported. In Greater London, nearly 30,000 people spotted 400,000 birds this year.'
Sharp decline for table leaders
Despite Big Garden Birdwatch going from strength to strength, the same cannot be said for some of the UK's garden birds. Where the number of participants has continued to grow, the RSPB has recorded a sharp decline in the number of some birds seen in our gardens since 1979.
'It's fantastic that there is so much interest in the wildlife around us with more people than ever enjoying the birds in their gardens'Although the house sparrow retained its top spot this year as the most common garden bird, its numbers are still massively down from levels at the beginning of Big Garden Birdwatch. With an average of just 4.41 sparrows seen per garden this year, compared to an average of 10 in 1979, the house sparrow has seen a decline of 56%.
Having dropped off the top spot in 2004, the starling continued to decline in 2006, with numbers per garden down to a quarter of those recorded in gardens in 1979.
Wren numbers have increased by 140% since the first survey in 1979.
Good news for some garden birds
It's not all bad news. The greenfinch and wren have both seen their numbers increase over the past 27 years by 67% and 140% respectively, and many people noted larger numbers of blackbirds and song thrushes, probably due to colder winter weather this year. In fact, the blackbird was also the most widespread species, recorded in 94% of all gardens.
Richard added, 'Some more unusual species were also commoner in our gardens this year. For example, the number of siskins was up by 483% from last year, and bramblings were up by 371%. This highlights the importance of our gardens to birds coming to the UK in search of food and shelter and escaping the harsh winter weather on the continent.'
In addition to the big increases seen in Big Garden Birdwatch, more than 1,300 schools involving 35,000 children and their teachers took part in Big Schools' Birdwatch. Children, with the blessing of their teacher, spent an hour gazing out of their classroom window to count the birds that share their school environment. The full results for the Schools' Birdwatch will be out in early April.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch aims to find the most commonly seen garden birds. Wild birds are a fantastic indicator of the health of the environment and the survey requires only one hour to take part, producing a snapshot of winter garden bird populations.
More information can be found at .
www.rspb.org.uk