Sean and Phil had their scopes up outside the Palm House,
and the bird feeders had been well stocked, so there was a constant stream of small
visitors – including coal tit, long-tailed tit and nuthatch, with a sparrowhawk
having a quick look in at one stage. Thrillingly, on a walk around the park,
one of the kingfishers was also seen, in the Fairy Glen. (The photo is from the
previous day’s bird walk led by our group leader, Chris Tynan, and was taken by
Friends of Sefton Park volunteer Tana.)
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| Photo by Tana, Friends of Sefton Park Volunteer |
Inside the Palm House, activities included face painting,
and studding apples with sunflower seeds and threading them with twine to make
eco-friendly bird feeders which children (and adults) could take home. As can
be imagined, there were queues to participate in these activities, and thanks
are due to Chris for sourcing the apples and to the volunteers who cored what
must have felt like hundreds of them!
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| Photo by Laura Bimson |
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| Photo by Debra Williams |
Other volunteers were on hand to help visitors choose posters and pin badges to buy, and to explain the large range of leaflets on display, as well as the main purpose of the event: to promote the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, now in the 42nd year of an extremely important citizen science project.
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| Photo by Laura Bimson |
Almost half a million people across the UK participated in
2019, including over 6,600 on Merseyside, counting over 7.5 million birds in
total. Once the data has been submitted, he RSPB team collates and cleans it
and then sorts it in different ways, e.g., looking for abundance (average
number of species seen in each garden) and distribution (percentage of gardens
in which the birds were seen). Comparing this data over the years gives a very
good idea of how different species are doing. For example, Merseyside data for
2019 showed a decrease in sightings of both wrens and long-tailed tits, which
had been counted in particularly large numbers in 2018. Is the 2019 decline the
beginning of a trend or is it just low in comparison to 2018’s large numbers?
Hopefully, this year’s data will shed some light on this.
The results help the RSPB spot any troubling declines in our
garden birds and alert the public to them and to the ways in which we can all
contribute to reversing them, e.g., by putting out different bird feed or
making our gardens more wildlife-friendly.
Children attending the event were also told about the RSPB’s
Big Schools Birdwatch. Around 400 Merseyside schools took part last year, and
we hope that this number will increase this year. Interestingly, although
nationally the blackbird was in top spot for this part of the project, the most
numerous species seen by Merseyside schoolchildren was black-headed gulls – an
indication of the region’s coastal location. (There was a big party of gulls
loafing on the field opposite the Palm House, showing that these birds aren’t
just found on the water!)
All in all, a great day was had by all – visitors and
volunteers – and everyone is now geared up to participating in the Big Garden
Birdwatch. Will the house sparrow stay in top spot both in the UK overall and
on Merseyside for yet another year, or will it be knocked off its perch
(sorry!) by last year’s second-place bird, the starling?
(More information about 2019’s results can be found at: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/results/.)
Debra Williams
