News archive

March 2006

Friday, 24 March 2006

Blue tit perched on frost-covered conifer

Big Garden Birdwatch - Wiltshire Results

Did you know that more than 470,000 people, including 86,000 children, watched their gardens and local parks during the Big Garden Birdwatch on 28-29 January.

8.1 million birds from 80 different species were spotted, ranging from the common blackbird to the more unusual blackcap. Over 270,000 gardens were surveyed, the equivalent of 7,000 football pitches.
The results show that, despite Big Garden Birdwatch going from strength to strength, the same cannot be said for some of the UK's garden birds.

The house sparrow retained its top spot this year as the most common garden bird, although its numbers are still massively down from levels at the beginning of Big Garden Birdwatch. With an average of just 4.41 sparrows seen per garden this year, compared to an average of 10 in 1979, the house sparrow has seen a decline of 56%. The starling continued to decline in 2006, with numbers per garden down to a quarter of those recorded in 1979.

It's not all bad news. The greenfinch and wren have both seen their numbers increase over the past 27 years by 67% and 140% respectively, and many people noted larger numbers of blackbirds and song thrushes, probably due to colder winter weather this year. In fact, the blackbird was also the most widespread species, recorded in 94% of all gardens.

So what happened in Wiltshire.

The following chart shows the top 15 species identified during the Birdwatch.

Position: Species Mean per Garden
1 house sparrow 4.37
2 blackbird 3.28
3 starling 3.15
4 chaffinch 2.64
5 blue tit 2.63
6 greenfinch 2.13
7 woodpigeon 1.61
8 great tit 1.52
9 collared dove 1.40
10 robin 1.40
11 long-tailed tit 1.25
12 goldfinch 1.22
13 dunnock 1.20
14 jackdaw 0.82
15 magpie 0.76

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch aims to find the most commonly seen garden birds. Wild birds are a fantastic indicator of the health of the environment and the survey requires only one hour to take part, producing a snapshot of winter garden bird populations. Thank you to all of you who took part in this year's event.

Sunday, 19 March 2006

Male lapwing in breeding habitat

Spring has arrived!

It might still feel very cold to you with some flowers being very reluctant to raise their heads and some of our winter visitors delaying their departure. Despite this there are signs of spring around us with the early return of some migrant birds and some or our resident birds displaying and carrying nesting material. On the south coast, wheatears and some swallows have been sighted

As we carry on into late March and April the numbers of spring migrants will swell and a trip to the Cotswold Water Park, Coate Water or any small overgrown area could produce any number of surprises.

You can help our understanding of our birdlife by reporting sightings to the Wiltshire Bird Recorder (see WOS link) or though the Biological Records Centre at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. If you wish to report sightings online then Bird Track, a reporting system supported by the RSPB, is available through the attached link. On that website you can also monitor the movement of various species of birds as they spread throughout the country.

We still have three indoor events left this season. Please visit us and by talking to local members you can find out where are the best places to see birds anbd what is around.