Berkshire outnumbers neighbouring counties on garden birdwatch

The RSPB have today published details of the Big Garden Birdwatch which show that Berkshire managed the third largest participation of a block of counties in the south and east of the country. Only Hertfordshire and West Midlands, which both exceeded 10,000 participants, beat Berkshire?s total of 7993 watchers and 4540 gardens.

In Berkshire the house sparrow came out top, an average of 3.19 found in each garden (4.56 nationally), followed by the Starling and Blue Tit. The Song Thrush has plummeted to 22nd place nationally since being 7th in 1979, something that might be related to climate change as so many habitats are drying up.

Wood pigeons are a more common bird in Berkshire?s gardens in 5th place with 1.97 present against a national position of 8th with 1.43. Greenfinch is the bird that seems to give way for this, being 10th in Berkshire and 5th nationally.

Colin Wilson –