But
visits to gardens made by wrens, robins and blackbirds up from last year
More
than 585,000 people across the country took part in this year’s RSPB Big Garden
Birdwatch, spending an hour over the weekend of 24 and 25 January watching
their gardens and recording any feathered friends which made a flying visit -
close to a 100,000 increase on 2014. In Merseyside, over 8,000 people took
part, helping to contribute to the national results.
Overall
more than eight-and-a-half million birds were spotted, making it another bumper
year for the Birdwatch. Refreshingly, sightings of every bird that featured in
this year’s national top 20 increased on the numbers recorded in 2014, apart
from the three finches; chaffinch, goldfinch and greenfinch - a trend which was
also seen in Merseyside, with lower numbers of finches spotted in people’s gardens
compared to last year.
However,
the average number of robins seen visiting gardens nationally was at its
highest since 2011, helping it climb three places to number seven in the Big
Garden Birdwatch rankings, its joint highest-ever position. The robin also
climbed up the sightings table in Merseyside, from tenth place to seventh.
Blackbird
was another climber, moving to number three and becoming the UK’s most
widespread garden bird after being spotted in more than 90% of UK gardens. In
Merseyside, blackbirds held onto third position, but were seen in 90% of
gardens – an increase on last year.
Despite
being the UK’s smallest garden bird, twice as many people picked out a wren
calling by their garden this year than in 2014, consolidating its place in the
top 20 most popular garden birds nationally. In Merseyside, the wren flew
into 20th position after being spotted in 26% of gardens compared to 14% last
year.
However,
two species found in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch’s top 20 most popular
birds remain in the red of Birds of Conservation Concern , highlighting
just how valuable our gardens can be. House sparrow and starling are on the red
list meaning that they are of ‘highest conservation priority – species needing
urgent action’.
RSPB
Conservation Scientist, Dr Daniel Hayhow, said: “Many garden birds are in desperate need of
our help. During winter, birds need extra food and water, a safe place to
shelter and make their home. Gardens providing these things are an invaluable
resource for birds and are likely to have a significant effect on their
numbers, perhaps even playing a pivotal role in reversing some declines.
“We
hope through this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch challenge, of seeing things
through the eyes of birds, really helped people to understand exactly how they
use your garden, and will allow them to improve the ways to give nature a home
all year round.”
Despite
the Big Garden Birdwatch results also showing a drop in finch numbers this
year, scientists believe there is no need to panic just yet.
Daniel
added: “Birds such
as goldfinch, greenfinch and chaffinch may not have been as reliant on food
found in our gardens during the cold snap because of a decent natural seed
supply found in the wider countryside this winter following a good summer.
“The
weather can have varied effects on different groups of birds in terms of
behaviour and habitats used. This year, a better seed supply in the countryside
for finches means that we saw fewer visiting our gardens. On the other hand
during the cold spell, birds like blue tit and robin would still be more
reliant on food found in our gardens.”
While
alarms bells aren’t ringing about this annual variation in finch numbers, for
greenfinches this drop in numbers continues a long term decline of 53% since
1979, which is likely due to Trichomonosis disease. Intriguingly, the top four
locations for greenfinch in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch are islands;
Orkney Islands, Isle of Scilly, Eilean Siar and Isle of Anglesey, possibly
suggesting the disease hasn’t spread to these areas yet. This further
highlights the need to maintain a high level of hygiene at garden feeding
stations to halt the spread of Trichomonosis.
“Trichomonosis
disease has reduced the greenfinch population severely in recent years, and has
been documented in other garden birds, including chaffinch. Following simple
sensible hygiene procedures when feeding garden, such as regularly cleaning
feeders and tables, is a step in the right direction in stopping the spread of
this deadly disease,” added Daniel.
Other
continuing national declines include starlings and song thrushes, which have
dropped by an alarming 80% and 79% respectively since the Birdwatch began in
1979. Both species are on the UK ‘red list’ meaning they are of the highest
conservation concern.
There
was also a notable decline in the number of winter migrants that were spotted
over the Birdwatch weekend. Redwing, brambling and waxwing all dived down the
rankings although RSPB scientists believe this may have more to do with the
good conditions on the continent over the winter, reducing the need for these
birds to migrate to the UK.
There
is slightly better news for the house sparrow, as its long term decline appears
to have continued to slow, and it remains the most commonly spotted bird in our
gardens nationally. However, it remains a conservation concern as numbers have
dropped by 57% since 1979.
For
the second year running, participants were also asked to log some of the other
wildlife they see in their gardens. The RSPB asked whether people ever see slow worms and grass
snakes as well as deer, squirrels, badgers, hedgehogs, frogs and toads in their
gardens, which were all added last year. This information, which will help
build an overall picture of how important our gardens are for giving all types
of wildlife a home, will be analysed and results will be revealed next month.
The
parallel event, Big Schools’ Birdwatch, continued the record breaking theme
with more schools and children taking part than ever before. The UK-wide survey
of birds in schools had almost 90,000 participants and revealed that blackbird
is the most common playground visitor for the seventh year in a row. The top
three was rounded off by starling and house sparrow, which is now at its
highest-ever position in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch rankings.
Big
Garden Birdwatch and Big Schools’ Birdwatch are a part of the RSPB’s Giving
Nature a Home campaign, aimed
at tackling the housing crisis facing the UK’s threatened wildlife. The charity
is asking people to provide a place for wildlife in their own gardens and
outside spaces – whether it’s putting up a nest box for birds, creating a pond
to support a number of different creatures or building a home for a hedgehog.
To
find out how you can give nature a home where you live visit: rspb.org.uk/homes
This table
shows the top 10 birds seen in Merseyside gardens in 2015
|
Species
|
Average number per garden
|
Rank
|
|
House
sparrow
|
3.02
|
1
|
|
Starling
|
2.92
|
2
|
|
Blackbird
|
2.66
|
3
|
|
Blue
tit
|
2.44
|
4
|
|
Woodpigeon
|
2.06
|
5
|
|
Magpie
|
1.69
|
6
|
|
Robin
|
1.42
|
7
|
|
Goldfinch
|
1.42
|
8
|
|
Feral
pigeon
|
1.35
|
9
|
|
Great tit
|
1.22
|
10
|
No comments:
Post a Comment