News – Page 6

At the beginning of March, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) announced the 2020 results from Garden BirdWatch in which approximately 1,200 people are participating.

As we all know, 2020 was a very difficult year for us all. Due to the restrictions imposed by the government at lockdown, we were not allowed to travel far and were told to stay local. As a result of this, many people took more of an interest in their gardens and subsequently the amount of people participating in the scheme doubled. This was not only beneficial for their mental health and well-being but it also provided the BTO with more information about the way birds use our gardens.

From the results, the following observations were noted. The mild winter of 2019/2020 was particularly beneficial for small birds such as Wrens, Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits. The two former species increased by 11%. Very cold winters can decimate the populations of these small birds and if the current trend towards milder winters continues, they should do well. On the other hand, there were fewer migrant winter thrushes visiting us. This includes the Fieldfare and the Redwing. The same applied to the Brambling, which is a member of the Finch family. It is thought that these birds stayed further north and east of the British Isles as there was an ample supply of food for them. Those which did migrate here probably found plenty of sustenance in the countryside so didn’t have the need to come in to gardens,

The spring of 2020 was warm and the Holly Blue butterfly emerged earlier than usual. It was a poor season for Blue Tits and Great Tits though. This has been quite obvious in my own garden as I have had very few visits from Great Tits especially.

A dry early summer impacted on birds such as Blackbirds and Song Thrushes which rely on soil invertebrates. The ground became too hard for them to get to their food source. One bird which did do well was the Sparrowhawk and in southern England, the Ring-necked Parakeet also did well.

So, the winners of 2020 were Wren, Long-tailed Tit, Sparrowhawk, Pheasant, Green Woodpecker, Ring-necked Parakeet, Swallow, Herring Gull, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff.

The losers of 2020 were: Siskin, Rook, Jay, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Jackdaw, Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Starling. It is interesting to note that virtually all members of the Crow family were down in numbers.

One bird worth a special mention is the humble House Sparrow. Over the last 40 years, there has been a rapid decline of this species and unbelievably it is now on the red list of the Birds of Conservation Concern (BoCC). Although the rate of decline has slowed down there is a long way to go before numbers get up to what they were before, if they ever do at all. The House Sparrow has done better in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but not so well in England.

It will be interesting to see how our garden birds will fare this year.

Jean Powley