Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma
The Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest wildlife survey. It’s a brilliant way to encourage people to of all ages and backgrounds to take some time-out to enjoy wildlife. During these turbulent times, activities like this, that helps connect us with nature, are more important than ever. The wildlife we see from our windows and back gardens can provide a much-needed respite from the stressful times we live in.
The beauty of this survey is that anyone can take part, and it only takes an hour. People can contribute to the survey by just looking out of the window at their back gardens, from the office, or from a city park. It’s simple, and an easy way to collect important data that helps give us an idea of how garden birds across the country are faring.
This year, thousands of people across the country participated. In Wales, over 24,000 people took part, and a total of 462,109 birds were seen. Thank you to everyone who took part, for your time and passion for nature. Your results are extremely valuable and crucial for our conservation work.
After receiving all the result sheets, our team of conservation scientists have been busy behind the scenes, crunching numbers, scrutinising and analysing the data you helped to collect. It’s not an easy job to summarise thousands of data sheets into something that’s easily digestible for everyone else, so a massive thank you goes out to our brilliant team of scientists!
What’s the story this year?
At first glance, not a lot has changed. The house sparrow is once again top of the pops, claiming the top spot. A large swathe of the top ten – from fourth to eighth positions, did not move - with the blackbird, chaffinch, great tit and goldfinch staying put.
There were some shifts of course - we saw the starling drop a position from second to third, with the blue tit pipping it to second place this time. We also saw the robin drop from eighth to ninth, shifting the magpie down from ninth to 10th. These results do not seem that dramatic, but they are important all the same.
The big story from this year’s results is the comeback of the long-tailed tit into the 10 most-seen garden birds in this year’s survey. Numbers in last year’s Big Garden Birdwatch survey had fallen drastically. This adorable bird fell to 12th place, and bad weather may have played a big part in this. Do you remember the Beast from the East? This massive snowstorm that took place in 2018 had big impact on a lot of wildlife in the UK, and we’re still seeing and learning about its effect today. However, it looks like the long-tailed tit is making a recovery, as it has glided back to eighth place, with a massive increase of 46% seen in sightings compared to last year. It’s a very welcoming sign to see these amusing birds flock in our gardens again!
While we have not seen much change in the order of our most-seen garden birds, there has been a drastic flux in numbers for some species. The main significant changes in reduced percentages are for the chaffinch, which has seen a devastating 9.8% drop in sightings. Similarly worrying stats came in for the great tit, with an 8.8% drop in sightings compared to last year. Even smaller margins of reduction are cause for concern, as we see the numbers of starlings and blackbirds fall again, continuing the decline further - between 2006 and 2020, we have seen both species’ numbers drop around 11.4%.
Shining example of citizen science
The Big Garden Birdwatch survey is a brilliant way to combine conservation science with watching wildlife. Taking part is a fantastic way to connect with nature and help our understanding of what birds are struggling, which species are doing well. The help you give also puts us in a better place to understand what help is needed to some of our struggling garden birds. We hope you’ll join us for the next Big Garden Birdwatch!
Click here For a full round-up of all the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results and to see which birds were visiting gardens where you live.