Aroundtown Magazine January/February 2024 edition

HOME & GARDEN
Help protect the UK’s
feathered friends
with the Big Garden Birdwatch
House Sparrow
Blue Tit
This January, join the world’s
largest garden wildlife survey
as the RSPB’s Big Garden
Birdwatch weekend returns for
another year.
The event takes place on Friday 26th to Sunday
28th January and everyone is invited to spend
an hour watching and recording the birds in their
gardens, balconies or local green spaces, before
sending results to the RSPB.
Even if you don’t see any birds, the RSPB
wants to know. It all helps the UK’s largest nature
conservation charity to understand what is or isn’t
around where you live.
Last year, over half a million people took part in
Big Garden Birdwatch 2023, counting a whopping
9.1 million birds.
The most sighted bird in the UK was the house
sparrow, but counts of these chirpy birds are down
by 57% compared to the first Birdwatch in 1979.
In fact, we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in
the last 60 years.
It’s a shocking figure and exactly what is
causing these declines is not clear. But together
with other scientists and partner organisations,
the RSPB continually strives to reverse this trend
and protect threatened birds and wildlife so our
towns, coast and countryside will teem with life
once again.
Garden birds provide an important connection
to nature and bring joy and comfort as well as
being vital for our mental health and wellbeing.
Every bird you do – or don’t – count will give the
RSPB a valuable insight into how garden birds
are faring.
Most spotted birds in 2023
1. House Sparrow 1,401,338
Males and females are easily distinguished;
males have a grey head and black bib whilst
females are pale brown with a pale stripe behind
the eye. These noisy and gregarious birds often
stick together in small flocks. They like to hide in
big hedges, take dust or water baths together,
and are often heard ‘social singing’.
2. Blue Tit 904,637
Streaked with a colourful mix of blue, yellow,
white and green, blue tits are one of our most
attractive garden visitors and will happily take all
kinds of bird food.
3. Starling 904,079
Smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail,
pointed head and triangular wings, starlings look
black at a distance but up-close they shimmer
purple and green. Their flight is fast and direct,
they walk and run confidently on the ground, and
spend much of the year in flocks. While one of
the most common garden birds, their decline
elsewhere makes them critically endangered.
4. Woodpigeon 750,251
The largest and most common pigeon in the
UK, the woodpigeon is largely grey with a white
neck patch and white wing patches. Although
shy in the countryside, it can be tame and
approachable in towns and cities.
5. Blackbird 716,734
The males live up to their name, but
confusingly females are brown and often
have spots or streaks on their breasts. The
bright orange-yellow beak and eye-ring make
adult male blackbirds one of the most striking
garden birds.
Starling
72 aroundtownmagazine.co.uk