Greater spotted or a rare bird – it’s all important
THE RSPB WANTS PEOPLE TO HELP WITH ITS 40TH BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH
THE RSPB is eagerly anticipating who will be top of the pecking order for a very special anniversary of its world famous Big Garden Birdwatch in January.
Just one hour every year, for the last 40 years, has made the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch the world’s largest citizen science project. During that time, hundreds of thousands of people have volunteered more than eight million hours monitoring garden birds.
To mark the event, the RSPB is encouraging participants to share their Big Garden Birdwatch stories. How will you #BigGardenBirdWatch? will showcase some of the best examples of how people take part; from building their own birdwatching den, baking birdseed cakes and dressing up as Batman to see Robin.
What do I have to do?
The event takes place over Saturday January 26, Sunday 27 and Monday 28.
It involves sparing 60 minutes at any point over the three days to make a note of the birds you see from your home or nearest outdoor space, then submitting the results to the RSPB.
The results give the RSPB an astonishing amount of insight into how our wildlife is faring.
For 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. The song thrush was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979. Last year in the South East they were in 21st place.
Nic Scothern, RSPB regional director for the south east says: “I love taking part in Big Garden Birdwatch, and I’m always surprised by how many different birds there are right outside my own kitchen window. Just taking 60 minutes to pause and actively look at nature gives me a fresh perspective on my own surroundings. It feels good to be part of something to help save nature”
“We can all do more to Give Nature a Home and our online activities will help you prepare for January’s Big Garden Birdwatch. Thanks to everyone who has participated over the past four decades we were able to identify and address a massive fall in the number of house sparrows.
“I’m delighted to say we’re now seeing their numbers slowly increase across the south east.
“Fingers crossed this year shows that trend continue, but we’ll only know that if people spare us an hour and contribute to the survey.”
The survey has also shown national increases in collared dove and wood pigeon numbers and the alarming declines of the house sparrow and starling.
The UK decline in house sparrows since the Big Garden Birdwatch began is 57% (1979 – 2018). In the South East their numbers fell 15% (2005 – 2018), but there was a 3.7% increase last year compared with 2017.
Recording wildlife
As well as counting birds, the RSPB is once again asking participants to log some of the other wildlife they have seen throughout the year.
This year, we’d like to hear about encounters with badgers, foxes, both grey and red squirrels, muntjac deer, roe deer, frogs and toads.
To take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2019, watch the birds in your garden or Local Park for an hour at some point over the three days.
Only count the birds that land, not those flying overhead. Tell us the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time. This means you’re not counting the same bird more than once if it makes repeat visits during your survey.
The parallel event, the RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch takes place during the first half of spring term (January 2 to February 22, 2019). More than 60,000 schoolchildren spent an hour in nature counting birds in 2018. Further information can be found at www.rspb.org.uk/ schoolswatch
Sign me up
Registration for Big Garden Birdwatch 2019 opens on Wednesday December 12, but distribution of packs begins in the New Year. Visit www.rspb. org.uk