Survey sees how birds have coped

Jan 30 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

THOUSANDS of people in the North East will be taking part in this weekend’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

To take part, observers should watch the birds in their garden or local park for an hour over the weekend and record the greatest number of each species they see at any one time.

This provides a mass of information which is used to plot bird numbers and longer-term population declines or increases.

Last year, 2,852 people took part in County Durham, 3,661 in Northumberland, 3,708 in Tyne and Wear and 3,427 in Cleveland.

As the North East has endured its harshest winter since the launch of Big Garden Birdwatch over 30 years ago, the RSPB is particularly keen to know how the conditions have affected garden bird numbers and whether people see any unusual visitors such as redwings, fieldfares and tree sparrows which have moved into gardens because of the struggle to find food elsewhere.

The harsh weather will have been particularly bad for birds with small bodies like robins, long-tailed tits and wrens, reflected in their positions in the 2010 league tables.

The RSPB also wants to identify any regional variations that occur as birds fly to milder areas or where natural food is still readily available.

Visit the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch for more information and to submit your results online.