British Trust for Ornithology

The BTO Garden BirdWatch is a year-round project that gathers important information on how different species of birds use gardens and how this use changes over time. Gardens are an important habitat for many wild birds, providing a useful refuge for those affected by changes in the management of our countryside

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If you have a garden and you watch
your garden birds then you can help.

Garden BirdWatch is all about getting involved and gathering useful information using simple recording techniques. The forms are easy to complete and all you need to do is keep a simple note of the birds seen during the course of the week. You can note the birds you see over your morning cup of coffee or while working in the garden. How much time you spend recording is up to you. All we ask is that you are consistent from one week to the next.

Your Garden BirdWatch observations can either be submitted over the Internet on a weekly basis, or by returning  special paper forms that cover a 13-week recording period. The observations that are received are added to the national Garden BirdWatch database, building up a pattern, showing how bird species change their use of gardens throughout the year and from one year to the next.

Collectively the Garden BirdWatch results can be used to stimulate research into declining species and to inform conservationists of action that needs to be taken.

At present 16,500 national members currently take part  of which we have 136 Garden Birdwatch Participants in Merseyside -  See maps below.

Can you fill a gap?

click images

The grey dots above are 1km squares where
there are Garden BirdWatchers.

QUESTIONS

Should I Record birds in flight?

One question that is asked on a regular basis is whether or not to record birds seen in flight above your garden. Because we are interested in birds that are using the resources that your garden provides, most birds seen in flight above your garden would not be recorded. There are some instances when a bird seen in flight will be using your garden and one of the best examples of this is when low-flying Swifts, Swallows and House Martins are hawking for insects. Often this happens in the evening or on a dull day, times when aerial insects are low to the ground. Use your commonsense and be consistent from one week to the next in the way that you record.

Do I have to feed my birds to take part in Garden BirdWatch?

The simple answer is No! We are interested in receiving observations from all kinds of gardens, including both those where food is provided and where food is not provided. Because we keep a record of the food being provided on a weekly basis ,we can look at how the provision of food can influence the birds that appear.

When should I record?

Daily records are not essential but please record birds from the same place and more or less the same time each week. By doing this you will be producing counts that are comparable with each other from week to week. If you are not able to spend as much time recording the birds as you feel is necessary in any particular count week, do not enter records for that week on the form. Try to put in about the same amount of effort each week. Do not be over-ambitious when planning this. Continuity is more important than quantity. One minute a week for fifty-two weeks is more useful than 52 minutes with one week, and nothing for the rest of the year!

How should I record?

Most Garden BirdWatch participants use a notebook to record what they see during the course of each week, only transferring this information to the count form at the end of the week. For the 'top-ten' species, the size of the largest group of each species that you see together in your garden at any one time during the week is recorded. If you see two Blue Tits together on a Sunday, three together on the Wednesday and five together on the Tuesday then your record for the week is 'five'. Please do not use the sex or age of individuals to count 'extra' individuals i.e. if you see 2 female Blackbirds & 1 fledgling on Tuesday and 4 Male blackbirds on Thursday then your count is 4 not 7. Even if you know that more than one individual of a particular species is visiting your garden but you only see one of them at any time, the number recorded should be 'one'. If any bird was not seen in your garden at all in a particular week then do not mark that week's box for the species.

Do I record food?

You can record information on the food you provide each week. Bread and other food normally bought for human consumption should be recorded as 'scraps'. If you use a modern, high-quality bird seed mixture please record it as 'Seed Mix no Cereal', even if it contains small amounts of flaked maize, oatmill, millet, etc.

'Seed mix with cereal' means a traditional grain-based mixture containing a significant proportion of wheat grain or other coarse, dry cereal grains.  'Nyjer Seed' please record any Nyjer Seed you put out. 

If you have a pond, please mark 'water' every week

What should I do if I go away on holiday?

If you go away on holiday then you simply leave blank the weeks on the recording form for when you are away. It is sensible to gradually reduce the amount of food you are putting out prior to your departure, so the birds have begun to find alternative sources of food before your food runs out.

Recording

The beauty of online recording is that you can enter your observations on a weekly basis which allows the BTO to update their results more regularly and enables you to view all the records noted from your garden. (Don't worry if you don't have computer access you can still use the  special paper recording forms that cover a 13-week period.)

Example of the online recording form

The table lists bird species most commonly encountered in gardens nationally and other wildlife species. Other, less common, species can also be entered by using the boxes below the named species. Below the species sections is a box into which you can enter any comments. Please note that comments are for your use only (making this a bit like an online notebook). We do not routinely view these comments unless we are checking on particular reports. Once you submit your entries to the database. Our software will check your records, highlighting any counts that are unusual (because of quantity, location or time of year). We do this to help you spot typing errors. For example, if you enter 11 Green Woodpeckers when you only meant to enter one, the system will report back that ‘11’ is a rather high count for this species, and will provide the opportunity for you to make a correction.

And we don't just count birds. We have 4 other counting sheets for Butterflies, Mammals, Reptiles & Amphibians and other Insects!

  Turn the clock back?    

  What were your Garden Species

Once you start recording, you will be able to look back at your  results. The table below shows which species you have seen in your garden since beginning Garden BirdWatch, and how often you have seen them. Reporting rate shows the proportion of weeks that species was found in. The page is split into the common and the scarcer species, as the proportion of weeks may vary.

Please help us build a bigger picture

Each participant is asked to support the project financially through an annual contribution of £15. In return, they receive the quarterly colour magazine Bird Table, count forms and access to advice on feeding and attracting garden birds. in addition all new joiners will receive a free copy of either the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Book or Gardening for BirdWatchers, both of which normally retail for £9.99 (plus p&p).