Garden Birdwatch

Garden BirdWatch

Garden BirdWatch is an ongoing BTO survey which anyone with a garden can become involved in. All you do is count the birds in your garden every week, and then every three months send your results to the BTO. More information can be found on the BTO website here.

I started doing the Garden Birdwatch in January 2001. As you can see from the results below, House Sparrows and Starlings are my most regular visitors. However as both these species have declined in the last few years, even information about them is important.

As can be seen from the following tables, numbers of House Sparrows and Starlings were both down in 2002 compared with the previous year. This may be part of the national trend, although numbers of both species seem to be stable in the area around my house. Sightings of other birds such as Blackbird and Collared Dove have also reduced, whereas Great Tit and Chaffinch have increased.

The following table is a summary of my records for 2002.

	Weeks recorded	Percentage	Average	Maximum
House Sparrow	49	100	9.4	21
Blue Tit	48	98	2.2	5
Woodpigeon	46	94	1.5	3
Starling	43	88	6.1	20
Dunnock	42	86	1.2	3
Great Tit	40	82	1.4	5
Greenfinch	36	73	1.4	5
Blackbird	35	71	1.4	4
Collared Dove	33	67	1.1	4
Magpie	23	47	0.6	3
Robin	19	39	0.5	3
Chaffinch	13	27	0.5	4
Wren	4	8.2	0.1	3
Coal Tit	4	8.2	0.1	1
Goldcrest	3	6.1	0.1	1
Long-tailed Tit	2	4.1	0.1	3
Mistle Thrush	2	4.1	0.1	2
Song Thrush	1	2	0	1

The following table is a summary of my records for 2001.

	Weeks recorded	Percentage	Average	Maximum
House Sparrow	50	100	13	30
Starling	48	96	10	60
Blackbird	48	96	1.8	6
Blue Tit	48	96	1.7	4
Dunnock	48	96	1.5	3
Collared Dove	46	92	2	6
Woodpigeon	45	90	1.6	4
Greenfinch	31	62	1.6	5
Robin	23	46	0.5	2
Magpie	23	46	0.5	2
Great Tit	17	34	0.4	2
Coal Tit	8	16	0.2	2
Wren	7	14	0.1	1
Chaffinch	6	12	0.2	3
Sparrowhawk	2	4	0.1	1
Goldfinch	1	2	0	1
Goldcrest	1	2	0	1
Chiffchaff	1	2	0	1
Blackcap	1	2	0	1

Last updated 29 December 2002

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