RSPB’s record-breaking 30th Big Garden Birdwatch

Long-tailed tit makes top ten

More than half a million people took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, counting over 8.5 million birds.

Seventy-three species were recorded in 279,000 gardens across the UK over the weekend of 24 and 25 January.

In Dorset more people than ever counted the birds with 9185 people sending in their records.

And the long-tailed tit has flown into the top ten for the first time in the survey’s 30-year history. Numbers of this highly sociable species nearly doubled compared to last year.

The increase is being linked to the mild winters leading up to 2009. Small, insect eating birds like long tailed tits are particularly susceptible to the cold as the food they rely on is hard to come by in frosts and snow so milder conditions have contributed to a higher survival rate.

Over the last ten years the long-tailed tit has also adapted to feeding at bird tables and from hanging feeders.

Whereas a few years ago most people simply put out peanuts, the increasing range of food being left out may be more suitable for birds such as long-tailed tits.

Numbers of all but one of the top ten birds have increased slightly since last year. Only starling numbers have dropped although they retain the number two slot.

Some of the UK’s most familiar species have suffered huge declines in the last three decades. The house sparrow has declined by 63% since the survey began in 1979, and the starling has dropped by 79%.

Despite this, the house sparrow retained its top spot for the sixth year running with an average of 3.70 seen per garden. The starling, which is a former number one, came in at number two with an average of 3.21 per garden. The blackbird completed the top three with 2.84 per garden (1).

The goldfinch dropped out of the top ten rankings after its entry for the first time last year. The goldfinch and the greenfinch slipped by a place each this year although both species have steadily increased in recent years.