The weekend of 30-31 January, 2016, sees the the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.  If you would like to take part, go to www.rspb.org.uk and request a FREE pack or simply register your details to save time on the weekend.

What is involved ?

•an hour of your time

•a pen or pencil

•some paper or a print-out of the RSPB’s bird ID sheet

•a place to observe (your garden / local park )

During the course of the hour, you are asked to record the highest number of each bird species in your garden / park.  The birds to look for are :

blackbird, blue tit, carrion crow, chaffinch, coal tit, collared dove, dunnock, feral pigeon, gold finch, great tit, green finch, house sparrow, jackdaw, long tailed tit, magpie, robin, song thrush, starling, wood pigeon and wren.

Each of these birds is described in detail (with photos) on the RSPB website : eg.woodpigeon

The Big Garden Bird Watch has been running for a number of years and has helped build a picture of how various bird populations have changed over recent times.  The 2015 results showed an increase in most of the top 20 birds compared with 2014.

Last year’s pecking order :

1. Sparrow
2. Starling
3. Blackbird
4. Blue tit
5. Wood pigeon
6. Chaffinch
7. Robin
8. Great Tit
9. Goldfinch
10. Collared Dove

The house sparrow retained top spot - but which will be in the top spot this year?   Rare visitors were the waxwing, little owl, skylark and corn bunting.