Written by Scarlet
What Is The Big Garden Birdwatch?
The Big Garden Birdwatch has been run by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for the last 40 years with an estimated half a million people taking part. All they ask is for is people to take just one hour out of their weekend to count the birds visiting their garden.
For those taking part, it is very simple. All they need to is sit somewhere comfy where they can see their garden and record the maximum number of each species they spot. For those who don't have a garden, they ask people to go to a local park or green space. The results are then sent in, either by paper or online, even if the person sees no birds. When Did The Big Garden Birdwatch Start?
Back in 1979, the RSPB launched a winter activity for their younger members. To help them work out the top ten most common garden birds in the UK they asked young members to count birds for an hour and send in the results.
They were not expecting many responses, however, after the survey was mentioned on Blue Peter they had over 34,000 forms! After this success, they repeated it each year and in 2001 they even let adults take part too. Why Is The Big Garden Birdwatch Important?
Thanks to the respondents the RSPB is able to gain a clear picture of the bird population in the UK each year. This allows them to compare each year and track species numbers.
Due to the data, we know that while some bird species numbers are dropping, such as house sparrows and starlings, others are booming like the woodpigeon. Who can take part?
Anyone! That is anyone with an hour to spare between 27-29th January. You can download an information pack from the RSPB website here.
Even Mycolab will be taking part and you'll be able to read about our experiences in the next few days.
The RSPB has a bird Identifier here.
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