Are you ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend?

2019 celebrates the 40th year of the RSPB  Big Garden Birdwatch and the survey weekend is nearly upon us! During the weekend of 26-28th January everyone in the UK the chance to take part in one of the world’s largest Citizen Science event and it is expected that over half a million people will take part this year! There were nearly half a million results submitted last year and over 6.76 million birds were spotted in gardens and green spaces across the UK. This year’s event is likely to attract even more people to count even more birds, providing a valuable snapshot of the national population of garden birds. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so, via the RSPB website, by clicking the link below:

Results from 2018 showed both winners and losers in the garden bird population and changes could be attributed to weather conditions and how successful the breeding seasons were for those species.
House Sparrows and Starlings kept their number 1 and 2 positions respectively with their characteristically noisy and gregarious natures.  There was an overall increase in smaller birds seen in gardens this year, such as Goldfinches, Long-tailed Tits and Coal Tits, with the Blue Tit just creeping up a place into 3rd. Goldfinch and Greenfinch were on the rise 11% and 5% respectively and our winter visitors such as Siskin and Brambling were also up possibly due to favourable winter conditions here in the UK. Unfortunately, there were 18% less Blackbirds and 12% less Robins spotted last year which may have meant more natural resources so less time at the garden feeders.

For those who can’t get out and about to take part in the survey, I can share my garden bird activity with you via my 24/7 live webcams.  Thanks to CJ Wildlife, who sponsor my cameras, I am able to live stream them for people all over the world to enjoy.  When you have completed your own survey or fancy taking a look at a different garden, you can log into my cameras via my website or via the CJWildlife Live cameras page. I get many visitors so there are always birds to see.
We are running a webcam prize draw competition on social media during the survey weekend giving you the chance to win a CJ Wildlife Bird Bundle worth £50.   Watch out for the competition launching on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Simply watch our webcams and capture as many birds as you can in one screenshot #BigGardenBirdwatch. Share your screenshots on the CJWildlife Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages, using the links below. More details of how to enter can be found on the CJ Wildlife social pages.
In the event of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random from each media platform.


from www.wildlifekate.co.uk https://wildlifekate.wordpress.com/2019/01/25/are-you-ready-for-the-big-garden-birdwatch-this-weekend/

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