But last year’s number three, blue tits, drops five places
More than 4,000 pupils and teachers across Wales counted the birds in their school grounds for one hour of one day in the first half of Spring Term (5 January – 13 February 2015). The survey is part of RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch – the biggest garden wildlife survey in the world. This year over 28,000 people across Wales took part in this citizen science survey over one weekend at the end of January.
Photo: rspb images
81% of Wales’ schools that took part in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch survey reported seeing blackbirds making these the most spotted species in playgrounds. House sparrow moved from number two to three, while the blue tit was replaced this year by the carrion crow – the poor blue tit dropping five places to number eight.
blackbird: rspb images
Sarah Mitchell, RSPB Cymru Youth and Education officer, said: “It’s encouraging that so many children and teachers continue to take part in Big Schools’ Birdwatch. This fun, interactive and educational activity available to schools across Wales and the UK not only enthuses children about wildlife, but supports the curriculum and helps us to help give nature a home for future generations to enjoy.”
The bird with the most significant change in rankings in Wales is the song thrush, which rose from 25th to 15th place, and was seen in one in every five schools. This is a welcome increase as song thrushes are a bird of conservation concern, numbers having dropped by 70% since the survey began [UK figure].
Overall, average numbers of birds spotted appear to be substantially up this year; but experts believe this is more likely to be because of the colder weather we experienced around the period of the survey compared to last winter. Numbers of birds in gardens, parks and school grounds also vary depending on the availability of a range of natural food sources. The dip in the number of finch sightings this year could indicate a plentiful supply of seeds in the wider countryside following a good summer, meaning that species such as finches are less reliant on bird feeders.
Species
2015 average per school
2015 rank
2015 Wales
% schools
Blackbird
6.76
1
81.15
CarrionCrow
5.14
2
61.48
HouseSparrow
4.78
3
57.38
Starling
4.23
4
40.16
Jackdaw
3.79
5
Magpie
3.01
6
BlackHeadedGull
2.97
7
36.07
BlueTit
2.56
8
58.20
Robin
2.07
9
67.21
CommonGull
1.95
10
28.69
Woodpigeon
1.89
11
37.70
FeralPigeon
1.23
12
22.13
GreatTit
1.17
13
31.15
HerringGull
1.16
14
22.95
SongThrush
1.01
15
19.67
Chaffinch
1.00
16
32.79
CollaredDove
0.96
17
23.77
LongTailedTit
0.69
18
12.30
Dunnock
0.67
19
14.75
PiedWagtail
0.66
20
Wren
0.52
21
17.21
CoalTit
0.51
22
Greenfinch
0.38
23
8.20
Rook
0.29
24
4.10
Goldfinch
0.23
25
4.92
Big Schools’ Birdwatch has been running for over a decade and helps to track numbers of birds in school grounds, providing an insight into how species are faring and inspiring children to give nature a home. Participating schools received a certificate and a free wildlife poster once they completed the activity and sent in their results.
This survey is a part of the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign, aimed at tackling the housing crisis facing the UK’s threatened wildlife. The charity is asking people to provide a place for wildlife in their own gardens and outside spaces – whether it’s putting up a nest box for birds, creating a pond to support a number of different species or building a home for a hedgehog.