Summer 2001 The starling has emerged as the top garden bird of East Anglia in an annual national survey. A record-breaking 50,000 people took part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch organised by the junior section of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds – double the number in 2000. Click on birds to enlarge: 1:Starling 2: House Sparrow 3:Blackbird 4:Blue tit 5:Chaffinch 6:Greenfinch 7:Collared dove 8:Great tit 9:Wood pigeon   10:Robin   Click here to view the Bird Leagues Gardens, which are increasingly important havens for birds and other wildlife now natural foods are in shorter supply in the wider countryside, were watched for an hour in January. The highest number of each species seen at any one time was recorded. The “top tens” for Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire are all similar to the national results, with the starling pipping the house sparrow to first place and the blackbird, blue tit, chaffinch and greenfinch all featuring high in the ratings. David North, the RSPB’s regional youth and volunteers officer, said that although starlings and house sparrows continued to occupy the number one and two slots, their populations had declined by as much as half over the last 10-15 years. “Nobody knows the full explanation,” he said. “It could be a combination of factors – possibly fewer nesting sites as modern houses have less access into roof spaces, where both of those species tend to nest. “Equally it could be a food supply problem.” The collared dove and greenfinch now enjoy greater prominence in the survey than they would have done in years gone by. “Greenfinches have increas-ingly come to feeders in people’s gardens and particularly if you put black sunflower seeds out – they seem addicted to them,” said Mr North. A notable absentee from the list is the song thrush, reflecting the drop in numbers of one of Britain’s best loved songbirds. The survey, involving more than 37,000 adults and 13,000 children, received data from nearly 30,000 gardens across the country. More than 90 species were recorded, with waxwings, kingfishers and lesser-spotted woodpeckers among the more unusual garden visitors. Four per cent of gardens had wintering blackcaps. “We would like to thank all those people who took part in the survey this year,” said Mr North. “Big Garden Birdwatch is important because it provides a great snapshot of the birds visiting our gardens each January, as well as highlighting long-term population trends. “It’s particularly useful because of the very large numbers of people involved and also the length of time that it’s been running – 23 years. It’s the longest-running garden bird survey in the UK – and probably in the world. “Gardens are increasingly important for birds. Certainly feeding will increase the number of birds. “We do recommend, though, that people continue feeding them throughout the year – it’s shown that it can help the survival of young birds.” Copies of the results will be available in July, priced at £3, from: Big Garden Birdwatch Results 2001, The Lodge, Sandy Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL.

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