Learning about birds

• What's that bird?
• Feeding birds
• How does weather affect birds
• Science, surveys and sustainable schools

Science, surveys and sustainable schools

You may think that if you only saw a few birds on your Big Schools' Birdwatch, or were unlucky and saw none at all, that we won't want to hear from you.

We want to hear from you no matter what you saw. Surveying the number of birds living in your area helps us monitor bird populations, and without receiving data from all the schools that took part we cannot build up a true picture of which birds are making the most of school grounds across the UK.

Most schools see starlings every year on their Big Schools' Birdwatch. If one year schools reported seeing fewer of them, we would be interested to know why. If it was only a small number of schools not seeing starlings, then it might be because something had happened at those schools (such as a new classroom being built), which meant the birds were staying away.

However, if lots of surveys came back saying that no starlings were seen, we would take more notice and try to work out what was happening and what people could do to help starlings.

Sustainable schools

Through its focus on issues that matter to young people, sustainable development provides a means of developing pupils' sense of enquiry, enjoyment and interest in learning.

Monitoring bird species in your school grounds is simple and inclusive; helping to make learning relevant to pupils through a practical activity suited to all.

Big Schools' Birdwatch offers a wide range of learning opportunities – from practical outdoors work, data handling to developing your school grounds for nature conservation, that it can lead to exciting learning opportunities.

In addition, this survey creates opportunities for greater personalisation of learning.

Big Schools' Birdwatch also encourages schools to develop their grounds in ways that help pupils learn about the natural world and sustainable living through biodiversity and conservation, and is an activity you can link to Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship.

Taking part in this activity can lead to the enhancement of the local environment and in return lead to environmental benefits to local communities.