Make a difference

Last month, we looked at practical ways you can help the birds in your garden. Here, we offer even more suggestions for how you can benefit them away from the home...

It’s not just a case of providing food and water for our feathered friends – there are many other ways you can help their future survival

Not everything we can do to help birds needs to involve feeding, planting and the like. Some of it comes from joining in with the activities of ornithological and conservation organisations. Or it could come from putting a bit back into the birding community. Here are just some of the ways you can actively join in to help all of our birds.

Sign up for a survey

One of the best ‘indirect’ things you can do for birds is to join in with a scientific survey. It is all about using your skills as a birdwatcher to help the greater wealth of scientific knowledge. Birdwatching is one of the ‘hobbies’ where even the ‘amateur’ can make important contributions to science. How does this help birds? Quite simply, science forms the core of conservation, and conservation is vital for our bird life.

There are several national surveys you can take part in, organised by the leading ornithological organisations such as the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the RSPB. These include the Breeding Birds Survey (BBS), and the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), both of which are monthly surveys. And there is the weekly Garden BirdWatch, which currently has some 12,000 participants. Why not join the hugely important band of ‘citizen scientists’? Or there is the similarly named RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which is a ‘one-off’ survey, over an hour in late January, each year.

But many local bird clubs carry out surveys and censuses of the birds living in the area covered by the group. This is another opportunity to take part and use your birding skills for the greater good.

create a birding community

Encourage your family and friends to enjoy watching birds. This can be a first step in generating the next generation of birdwatchers, and so people who can help birds. Take your children or grandchildren birding and introduce them to hides.

lead a bird walk

Whether for the local bird club, the local scout or guide group, or even your colleagues at work, leading a bird walk can help recruit a whole new wave of enthusiasts and bird lovers, who in turn can help birds!

give a bird talk

Talk to a local wildlife group or a school or a scout/guide group or the WI (or wherever) about birds! Inspiring a new wave of bird lovers is one of the greatest contributions any birder can make to the future well-being of birds.

There are several national surveys you can Take part in, organised by The leading orni Thological organisations