House sparrow is number one garden bird
THE RSPB has announced the results of its 2022 Big Garden Birdwatch, which took place at the end of January, and there were a few surprises for bird watchers in the Black Country.
In West Midlands, house sparrow took the top spot, followed closely by woodpigeon and blue tit. This year, nearly 19,000 people across the county took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch.
Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest wildlife survey and gives RSPB scientists insights into how our garden birds are faring. Now in its 43rd year, it is a chance for people of all ages to count the number of birds that visit their garden, helping the RSPB get a snapshot of how they are doing. This year almost 700,000 people across the UK took part, counting more than 11 million birds.
In the UK, the jay moved up nine places to number 23, an increase of 73% compared to 2021 numbers. Each autumn, jays, a colourful member of the crow family, can often be seen flying back and forth finding and hiding acorns to help see them through the winter. These are then hidden in the cracks and crevices of trees, but also in leaf litter on the ground. An individual jay can store around 8,000 acorns each year and many remain buried to grow into oak trees. The RSPB’S Chief Executive, Beccy Speight said “We don’t know the reasons for the sudden increase in jay sightings this year. It may be down to food availability as we have reports that last year was poor for acorns, but whatever the reason a sighting of this stunning bird is enough to raise one’s spirits any day of the year let alone on a gloomy January weekend. “It’s been brilliant to see so many people taking part again this year, taking time out to watch and reconnect with birds and then generously submit their sightings to help RSPB scientists gain some insights into how our garden birds are faring.”
Big Garden Birdwatch results also found a small increase in greenfinch compared to 2021. This gives scientists a glimmer of hope that this might be the first signs of a population recovery, but only time will tell. In recent years the greenfinch has suffered a population crash (62% since 1993) caused by a severe outbreak of the disease trichomonosis and as a consequence the species was added to the UK Red List last year.
The house sparrow remained at the top of the Big Garden Birdwatch rankings as the most commonly seen garden bird with more than 1.7 million recorded sightings throughout the weekend. Blue tit and starling remained in the number two and three positions respectively. The top 20 birds were: 1. House sparrow 2. Blue tit 3. Starling 4. Woodpigeon 5. Blackbird 6. Robin 7. Goldfinch 8. Great tit 9. Magpie 10. Chaffinch 11. Collared dove 12. Dunnock 13. Jackdaw 14. Feral pigeon 15. Long tailed tit 16. Carrion crow 17. Coal tit 18. Greenfinch 19. Wren 20. Song thrush Over its four decades, Big Garden Birdwatch has highlighted the winners and losers in the garden bird world. It was first to alert the RSPB to the decline in song thrush numbers, which are still down 81% compared to the first Big Garden Birdwatch in 1979. The throstle was a firm fixture in the top ten in 1979 but by 2009, its numbers were less than half those recorded in 1979, it came in at 20 in the rankings this year, seen in just 8% of gardens.
Song thrush numbers are down 81% compared to the first Big Garden Birdwatch in 1979