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Results fromThe RSPB, UK Headquarters

The 2006 Big Garden Birdwatch takes place at the end of January and all you need to do to take part is watch the local birds in your garden or park for an hour.

Last January, nearly 400,000 people spent an hour watching their local birds, collectively recording over 6 million birds in more than 200,000 gardens.

Our next Big  Garden Birdwatch runs on 28- 29 January 2006 and we'd love you to take part!

How to take part                                                  

The survey is very simple. All you need to do is watch your garden or local park for an hour on either Saturday 28 or Sunday 29 January, note down the birds you see and tell us the highest number of each species you see at any one time in the hour.  It’s important you don’t count all the birds that you see in total because some birds will return to your garden many times in the hour... Seeing the same Blue Tit come back 10 times does not make 10 blue tits!     Print   Your Counting sheet for Top 20 birds

Winter is one if the best times to record garden birds because cold weather drives large numbers to look for food and shelter in gardens.

Take part online

You can submit your results using our online form.   Enter results

 Available 28th January.                                                    (click)

The house sparrow took top spot in the 2005 Big Garden Birdwatch - the world's biggest bird survey.  Nearly 400,000 people from across the UK spent an hour counting the birds in their garden, over 6 million birds were recorded and 210,000 gardens surveyed. Their records provide a valuable snapshot of the UK's garden birds.

House sparrow numbers have been relatively stable in recent years, although they are still massively down from levels at the beginning of Big Garden Birdwatch 26 years ago. With an average of 4.56 sparrows seen per garden this year, compared to an average of 10 in 1979, the house sparrow has declined by 54%. Until 2003, the starling held the top spot, but after dropping to number 2 last year, the starling continued to decline in 2005, with numbers per garden down almost to a quarter of those recorded in gardens in the first Big Garden Birdwatch survey.

The information recorded helps the RSPB to prioritise its conservation work. The declines that we see over time highlight which birds need our help.

The most widespread species this year was the blackbird, recorded in 92% of all gardens, with house sparrows and starlings seen in 68 and 53% of gardens respectively. Blue, great, and long-tailed tits all continue to prosper, and since over 70% of the gardens surveyed provided peanuts, this may not be surprising!

What's in your Garden??

          TOP 20 FOR 2005                                    OTHERS POSSIBLE