As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Saturday 13 October 2012

RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch 2013


The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch - the world’s largest wildlife survey - takes place on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 January 2013 and they need you.

In 2012, just under 600,000 participants recorded over nine million birds across 285,000 gardens’, helping the charity monitor the birds visiting our gardens over the winter period.
This year they’re looking for even more people to step up for nature and take part. You don’t have to be an expert but your help means more results and a clearer picture of birds in the wild.

To take part, people are asked to spend just one hour at any time over Big Garden Birdwatch weekend noting the highest number of each bird species seen in their gardens or local park at any one time. They then have three weeks to submit their results to the RSPB, either online or by post. 

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 ever. House sparrow numbers have fallen by two thirds over the lifetime of the survey too.
Everyone who takes part in Big Garden Birdwatch is contributing to the World’s biggest wildlife survey and will help the RSPB learn more about some of our most familiar garden birds. 

The declines of birds like starlings and sparrows over the last 30 years or so have been alarming, but Big Garden Birdwatch has helped discover more about their numbers and distribution across UK gardens, and that has been the first step in helping to put things right.

Read on:  

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