Flying up the charts in the great garden survey
JAYS ARE THE BIG MOVERS IN UK’S ANNUAL BIRDWATCH
The house sparrow remains the most common bird across Staffordshire and the UK after the results of the RSPB’S Big Garden Birdwatch were collated.
This year’s survey, which saw almost thousands of people across the three counties take part, saw a remarkable rise in the number of jays recorded and a glimmer of hope for the endangered greenfinch.
Across the nation, almost 700,000 people took part over the last weekend in January, counting more than 11 million birds. House sparrows held on the top spot, but the jay surprisingly flew nine places up as the results from this year were compared with 2021.
The 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, RSPB’S Big Garden Birdwatch 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.
In Staffordshire, the house sparrow took the top spot, followed closely by starlings and blue tits. In Derbyshire, the sparrow was followed by blue tits and blackbirds while in Leicestershire it was followed by wood pigeons and blackbirds.
Nationally, the house sparrow remained at the top 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, nationally. The jay moved up nine places to number 23, an astonishing increase of 73 per cent 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.”
The results also found a small increase in greenfinches 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 per cent since 1993) caused by a severe outbreak of the disease trichomonosis and, as a consequence, the species was added to the UK Red List – a list for species which are flagged up as in decline – last year. The infection is spread through contaminated food and drinking water, or by birds feeding one another with regurgitated food during the breeding season.
Garden owners can help slow transmission rates by temporarily stopping the provision of food if ill birds are seen and making sure that garden bird feeders are cleaned regularly.
Over its four decades, the 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 per cent compared to the first Big Garden Birdwatch in 1979.
This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979. By 2009, its numbers were less than half those recorded in that inaugural survey, and this year it came in at 20 in the rankings, seen in just one-in-12 gardens.