Well it’s certainly been an exciting week for the BBC Springwatch team over at our Ynys-hir reserve hasn’t it? There’s been plenty of highlights: from Chris Packham’s favourite insect-eating migrants, redstarts and pied flycatchers, to jumpy sandpipers and fighting rodents.
Throw in incestuous peregrines from Bath, hissing barn owls and birdseed-munching squirrels, it’s certainly been highlighting the trials and tribulations of the natural world!
Make Your Nature Count
This weekend we’d like you to know about the trials and tribulations of another nature reserve: your garden. It’s the final weekend of Make Your Nature Count – our summer wildlife survey, and we’d love you to tell us all about the wildlife that visits your garden. It’ll help us to build up a picture of the wildlife that uses gardens, even those seed-munching squirrels.
How do I do take part?
It’s a piece of cake! In fact, why not have a slice of your favourite cake whilst doing it? All you need to do is sit down for at hour at home and count the birds in your garden. Yes, it’s that simple – it’s the perfect survey if this weather continues!
See our Make Your Nature Count website for all the information you’ll need, including a handy downloadable counting sheet. Get the whole family involved.
Not just birds
We’d also like you to tell us if you see any other wildlife in your garden. You don’t need to see these during the hour you count birds, but we’d like to know if you ever see them. This year we’re asking for species like slow-worms, roe deer, moles, squirrels and more. If you’d like to know more about some of the species we’re asking you to look out for, read our series of features highlighting our garden visitors.
I’m looking forward to it. I’ve moved house since Big Garden Birdwatch, so my garden is full of new wildlife treats to discover. Why not join me and thousands others by telling us what you see in your garden this weekend?
For more on our science, check out the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science web pages.