ARE you going to take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch this year? Anyone can, and it only takes an hour.
The Big Garden Birdwatch is an example of citizen science, which means that no special skills or knowledge are required so that anyone can take part, and last year nearly half a million people did it.
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch has been running since 1979 and was designed to give us an idea of how garden birds are doing, year on year. It simply involves counting the birds in your garden during one hour over a long weekend in January.
It has shown for example that Great Tits have increased by 68% in our gardens since 1979, while Song Thrushes are down by 80%.
With this information the RSPB can then look at the possible reasons why these changes have happened, which may then help suggest ways to help the birds that are decreasing.
This year the Big Garden Birdwatch is taking place from Saturday, January 25, through to Monday, January 27.
You can do the birdwatch at any time, but it needs to be a continuous hour, ideally in the morning.
One important point is that you should count the most birds of one species that are in your garden at the same time, not the total number over the hour.
This is to make sure that you are not counting the same bird more than once. Having done the hour, then you can send the results to the RSPB.
The best way of doing this is online, but you can post your results if you prefer.
All the details and more can be found online at rspb.org.uk/birdwatch, but if you do not have the internet, there will be some leaflets in the Wokingham Library.
Do give it a try.
Patrick Crowley, RSPB Wokingham and Bracknell Local Group
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