Feeders at the ready? ID chart by your side? Drinks and biscuits to hand? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then you're fully prepared for the Big Garden Birdwatch 2008.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, read on. Over the weekend of 26 and 27 of January we ask people to spare an hour of their time recording which birds, and how many, visit their gardens and open spaces. If you've never done anything like this before, I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of birds you see.
What's it all for?
The information we get back tells us how our garden birds are faring. The survey has been going for some years now, so we can compare results over long periods to identify changes in bird populations. It helped identify declines in common birds such as the house sparrow and starling. Knowing which birds are doing well and which aren't is great, but much more work is then needed to find out what all the results are teling us. It's a never ending job of number crunching, study, research and action.
So what?
Birds are fragile things that react to changes in the world faster than we do. Knowing what is happening to them, and why, gives us time to understand and manage things that could well impact on our lives. Basically, I'm a realtively fit and healthy father who wants to pass on a fitter and healthier world to his children and, before you throw-up and accuse me of being a worthy tree-hugger, if that's not worth an hour of anyones time, tell me what more important contribution can an individual make in just sixty minutes?
Based on the findings of previous years we've launched a major new project that could give wildlife a more secure future. Homes for Wildlife is an interactive online campaign offering personalised gardening advice that supports wildlife. You input details of your garden or outdoor space and it gives you some practical ideas on what more you can do to provide food and shelter for the sort of creatures that could be sharing that space. Following up the actions will help you become manager of your very own wildlife sanctuary. Imagine what a difference that would make to London. Private gardens make up a fifth of the Capital's total land area and more than a third of Greater London's trees are in those private gardens!
London's climate is changing and without more green space, wildlife will struggle or simply fail to survive. Gardening may never be the subject of a major Hollywood or Bollywood blockbuster, but you can become a world protecting Transformer without leaving the comfort of your own home.