About

• 29 years of results
• Tales of Big Garden Birdwatch

29 years of results

More than 400,000 people across the UK spent an hour counting the birds in their garden in 2007 and their records provide a valuable snapshot of the UK's garden birds.

More than six million birds were recorded and 236,000 gardens surveyed during Big Garden Birdwatch 2007, which continues to inspire hundreds of thousands of people to watch the birds in their gardens and local parks.

The survey, has seen a 12 fold increase in the number of participants since it began in 1979 and the information recorded has helped the RSPB prioritise its conservation work. The declines seen over time help highlight which birds need our help.

Declining numbers

Until 2003, the starling held top spot, but after dropping to number two in 2004, its numbers remained low in 2006 and 2007 respectively. Numbers of starlings per garden are down to less than a quarter of those recorded in gardens in the first Big Garden Birdwatch survey in 1979.

House sparrows claimed the top position for the most birds seen in gardens in 2007, but the species has shown a rapid decrease since 1979, dropping from 10 birds per garden to 4.4.

One change giving cause for concern is the song thrush. After a slight increase in recent years, song thrush numbers dropped in 2005 meaning for the first time in the history of the survey, they dropped out of the top 20 garden birds. In 2006, a slight increase in numbers were recorded but in 2007 the song thrush dropped out of the top 20 to number 24 and was only seen in under ten per cent of gardens.

As a consequence, song thrushes, starlings and house sparrows all remain on the red list as species of conservation concern.

Not all bad news

Of course, not all news is bad, and Big Garden Birdwatch results continue to highlight the increases of some of our garden birds.

Birds in two families have fared particularly well: pigeons and tits. Woodpigeons and collared doves are the two biggest winners since the start of Big Garden Birdwatch, whilst all four common tit species (blue, great, coal and long-tailed) have also increased, and are now regulars in the top 15.

The familiar faces of blackbirds, blue tits and robins were seen in more than 80 per cent of gardens surveyed during the 2007 Birdwatch.

To help you identify the common birds that are likely to appear in your garden this year, take a look at the top 15 UK birds for 2007.

We look forward to your help in discovering who is top of the pecking order in 2008.

Breakdown of 2007 results

Do you want to know the top 15 birds for your county, or who topped the table in each country? Download the results PDFs below to find out which birds topped the table, and where.