Newsletters January 2010 RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 30-31 January 2010
eNewsletter
Please wait...
| RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 30-31 January 2010 |
 |
 |
 |
|
For the past 30 years, the RSPB has been asking their supporters to count the birds in their garden. During this time, more than 3 million hours have been clocked up watching and enjoying the birds that visit our gardens (that's more than 380 years!), and every year, some 6 million birds are spotted by the public.
We've lost more than half our house sparrows, and three-quarters of our starlings, and the survey results have certainly helped highlight these dramatic declines. These surveys, therefore, help us spot problems, but more importantly, are also the first step to help aid a species recovery. But the Big Garden Birdwatch is also fun, easy and only takes an hour. The survey is carried out in January when the cold weather brings birds into our gardens, looking for food and shelter. You only have to count for an hour and you can do your count at any time of day although you will see more birds if you get up early! The time of day won't affect the overall results as the differences in bird numbers are evened out by the large number of gardens surveyed.
Last year in Carmarthenshire the top 8 birds recorded were:
This compares with an overall result in 2009 of
Find out more about how to get involved at: www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/lookfor/ |
The Big Garden Birdwatch has never been more important than it is today, with the results from half a million people (that's 280,00 gardens surveyed) helping the RSPB create a 'snapshot' picture of bird numbers in each region, showing us that some of our birds are disappearing in scary numbers.
If you didn't see any birds please send your results in anyway. It all counts, even if there was nothing to count. Surveys are as much about what is missing as what is there. Some people see fewer birds than usual during their hour, but others see more than usual – so they balance each other out.