Robins have hit a 20-year high, birdwatchers report

THE NUMBER of robins visiting gardens hit a 20-year high in this winter’s Big Garden Birdwatch, conservationists said.

Average numbers of the robin seen per garden were also up – to their highest levels for three decades, making it the seventh most commonly seen bird in the citizen science survey in January. UK gardens also saw a “waxwing winter” with a huge number of the unusual migrant birds which flocked to the country from Scandinavia in search of food, the results from more than 497,000 people who took part in the survey showed.

Waxwings arrive in the UK in large numbers once every seven to eight years when the berry crop fails in Scandinavia in what is known as an “irruption”, and were seen in around 11 times more gardens in 2017 than in the last couple of years.

The birds, which have a dusky pink colouring with a black strip across the eye and a punk-like crest were seen as far west as Wales and Northern Ireland, Birdwatch organisers RSPB said.

Dr Daniel Hayhow, RSPB conservation scientist, said: “Flocks of these striking looking birds arrived in the UK along the North Sea coast and will have moved across the country in search of food, favouring gardens where they can feast on berries. With it only happening once every seven to eight years, it will have been a treat for the lucky people who managed to catch a glimpse of one.”