26th – 28th January 2019
Well it’s almost that time of year again where Great Britain gets the binoculars ready, a cup of tea and stands guard for an hour to count the species visiting local gardens and parks. Yes, that’s right, it’s time for the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’.
The Embrace Nature UK team will be ready as always to see which of our usual visitors appear during the hour and whether any unusual visitors turn up.
The ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ began in 1979 and has allowed the RSPB to monitor bird and animal populations across the UK with the help of the general public.
The data shows us which species need the most help and any populations that have recovered slightly. For example there were less frogs and toads seen in 2018 than 2014 but more hedgehogs. Perhaps this shows that people’s efforts to create spaces for hedgehogs are paying off!
2018 saw a drop in blackbirds by 18% and robins by 12%. With bird populations in general still declining, there’s clearly plenty of work to be done. Even the more numerous house sparrow and starling populations are still reducing.
So here’s the opportunity to get involved and get bird-watching to help these populations to recover!
Join In
Follow this link to the RSPB website to get involved in the Big Garden Birdwatch
Prepare for 2019’s Big Garden Birdwatch
There’s still time to get a few bits and bobs that will help you along with identifying the visitors to your garden for your Big Garden Birdwatch hour.
Binoculars:
Identify birds more easily with a pair of binoculars. We have the RSPB Avocet binoculars, which we love. However, there are loads of great binoculars out there that will bring you closer to nature…
Bird Field Guide:
For those species that don’t appear on your RSPB ‘Big Garden Bird Watch’ sheet, a field guide is a massive help…
Happy bird-watching! We hope you enjoy your Big Garden Bird Watch!