RSPB Calls People across the UK to Participate in Big Garden Birdwatch

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is calling all nature lovers in the UK to participate in Big Garden Birdwatch that will take place on 28, 29 and 30 January 2017. This will be the 38^th year for the world’s largest garden wildlife survey, the results of which will be announced in March.

People are being asked to spend just one hour to watch and record birds in their local public space or gardens and then send their results to RSPB. People are also urged to record and report other wildlife seen in their gardens in the past one year, including hedgehogs, grass snakes, moles, stag beetles, and stoats.

The RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch survey is a nationwide event in which people all across the UK watch and record the number and type of birds and other wildlife in their gardens. The annual event provides important information about the birds using gardens in British homes during winter. In 2016, the house sparrow was the most common bird to be seen in the United Kingdom gardens.

The survey has been extended to Monday for the first time in its history, allowing more people to watch birds in their garden or park for three consecutive days.

“With over half a million people now regularly taking part, coupled with over 30 years worth of data, Big Garden Birdwatch allows us to monitor trends and helps us understand how birds are doing,” said Daniel Hayhow, RSPB Conservation Scientist.

“With results from so many gardens, we are able to create a ‘snapshot’ of the birds visiting at this time of year across the UK. Even if you see nothing during your Big Garden Birdwatch hour, that’s important information too, so please let us know.”

According to Daniel, the wildlife in the UK is “facing a tough time” and it is estimated that more than half of hedgehogs in the country have vanished in the past 50 years.

“We’re going to include this part of the survey every year now, enabling us to monitor the distribution of our other wildlife as well as trends in bird numbers.”

In 2016, over half a million people in the UK participated in the event, counting more than eight million birds. The figure of participants in expected to increase this year.

According to experts, people could see unusual migrant birds in UK gardens in the cold snap this year.

This year, the following venues from the North East region took part in survey:

• Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 January, RSPB Saltholme near Stockton-on-Tees between 10 am-4 pm

• Saturday 28 January, Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle between 10 am-4 pm

• Saturday 28 January, RSPB Newcastle Local Group at Jesmond Dene between10 am-2 pm.

• Saturday 28 January, RSPB Middlesbrough at Stewart Park between 10 am-4 pm.

According to the RSPB, there have been reports of hundreds of waxwings being seen in the UK this winter. Waxwings are the birds with dusky pink coloring with a black strip across the eye and a punk-like crest. The come from Scandinavia to arrive along the east coast and then disperse as far as Ireland and Wales. They don’t visit the UK every year, when arrive when scarcity of food happens in their northern breeding grounds.