Here at Leighton Moss we are very excited for Big Garden Birdwatch 2017. Big Garden Birdwatch (BGBW) is the world's biggest bird count, with over half a million people taking part to help count the millions of birds and wonderful wildlife that use our gardens...
In 2016, 519,000 people took part in BGBW and helped to count 8.2 million birds. In Lancashire we contributed to this nationwide survey, with 8,400 of us taking part. BGBW has been running for 37 years, providing our experts with a wealth of data that can tell us how well our garden birds and wildlife are doing.
From this data we have been able to find out that house sparrows are the most commonly seen birds in Lancashire and across the whole of the UK. We have discovered that long-tail tits benefit for milder winters, with Lancashire seeing a 13% increase in the number of long-tailed tits visiting our gardens and the UK experiencing a 44% increase! This puts long-tailed tits in the top ten of Britain's most common birds.
Lancashire's most commonly seen bird, the house sparrow, by Richard Cousens.
Our experts have linked this increase in numbers of birds such as long-tailed tits, coal tits and great tits to the milder weather we experienced in the run up to BGBW 2016. The food that species like long-tailed tits rely on is hard to come by during harsh, cold winters and so the milder weather conditions are likely to have resulted in this higher survival rate. In colder temperatures birds struggle to find food and so they frequent well stocked garden feeders. Long-tailed tits have adapted to feast upon peanuts for example.
A long-tailed tit enjoying some lunch by Martin Kuchczynski.
Whilst it is good news for our long-tailed tits, lots of our other favourite garden birds are struggling. Nationwide our beloved starling populations have declined by 81% since we began the BGBW in 1979. And our song thrushes, with their beautiful morning serenades, have declined by 89%.
The beautiful song thrush by Richard Cousens.
BGBW 2017 takes place on Saturday 28, Sunday 29 and Monday 30 January. It's fun, free, really easy and only takes an hour. You can complete your birdwatch anywhere you like- at home, in your local park or at school, so why not register now and get your free pack? All you have to do is set one hour aside within any of the three BGBW days and record your sightings. You can record your sightings as they happen on your smart phone, laptop or tablet with our live bird counter.
You can also take part in our Big Schools' Birdwatch. Over 90,000 schools took part in 2016, counting nearly 83,000 birds! Blackbirds were the most common playground visitor for the eighth year in a row! The Big Schools' Birdwatch has provided a million opportunities for children and teachers to connect with nature since it began in 2002.
A common playground visitor, the blackbird, by Nigel Blake (rspb-images.com).
If you can't take part in the BGBW at home or school, join us at Leighton Moss for our 'Big Garden Birdwatch' family trail to learn more about our wonderful garden birds.
Speak soon,
Alice!