Big Garden Birdwatch Results

Back in January, nearly half a million people counted 7.2 million birds over one weekend - counting the wildlife that counts on us. The numbers have been crunched by the RSPB scientists and we can now find out what we all saw.

This year in south-east England (my area) 92,000 people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch. The house sparrow remained the most commonly reported bird, with an average of three in each garden. Blue tits swooped in at number two, appearing in nearly three-quarters of all gardens, whilst the starling was the third most spotted bird.

The Top 10 birds seen in gardens this year were:

1. House Sparrow  2. Blue tit  3. Starling  4. Blackbird  5. Woodpigeon  6. Chaffinch  7. Goldfinch     8. Great tit  9. Collared dove 10. Robin

Starling

Female Blackbird

Goldfinches

Goldfinches have swooped into the number 7 spot. Before 2001 they were amber-listed. They are visiting our gardens more now and are particularly partial to nyjer seed.

For the first time in Birdwatch history the great spotted woodpecker has made it into the top 20.

Despite staying at number 1 spot the house sparrow is a red-listed species. Their numbers are down by 62% since the first Birdwatch.

Starling numbers have plummeted by 84% since the first Birdwatch in 1979. It is another red-listed species. The RSPB is urgently researching the reasons for the decline.

Song thrushes have declined by 81% since the Birdwatch began. They are currently in 21st place and like many of our favourite garden birds remain on the red list.

Some of the rarer garden visitors included Lapwing, Waxwing, Grey partridge, Barn owl and Chiffchaff and probably the rarest visitor in this Big Garden Birdwatch was a Yellow-rumped warbler!!