Binoculars at the Ready – Are You Ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch?
Care homes throughout the UK are being invited to take part once again in the Big Garden Birdwatch, the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring. The idea is to log all the birds you see in your garden, from your window or in your local park in a one hour period any time between January 24th and 26th 2025.
In 2021 over 1 million people took part and between them they counted 17 million birds. Sadly we have lost over 38 million birds from the UK skies in the last 50 years so it is vital we do all we can to protect our birdlife.
- Get your free guide and stock up on supplies, with 20% off and free delivery on food and feeders at the RSPB shop.
- Spend an hour watching the birds in your patch, between 24 and 26 January, and record the birds that land.
- Tell us what you saw (even if that’s nothing at all)! You can submit your results online or by post.
In January this year over 600,000 people took part in Big Garden Birdwatch 2024, counting a whopping 9.7 million birds!
House Sparrows took the top spot, but counts of these chirpy birds are down by 60% compared to the first Birdwatch in 1979. In fact, we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in the last 60 years. With birds facing so many challenges, it’s more important than ever to get involved in the Birdwatch. Every bird you do – or don’t – count will give us a valuable insight into how garden birds are faring.
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Tewkesbury Fields care home in Tewkesbury got out their binoculars and bird books earlier this year to support this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch initiative.
Resident Ambassador Vivian, and filled up her birdfeeder to attract the birds and then started looking up the different species in her bird book to make sure they were logged correctly. We saw many different birds that day.
General Manager, James Culley, said:
“Our residents love to watch all the birds in the garden so the Big Garden Birdwatch is right up their street. It’s important to look after our wildlife and help to conserve all the different species. We have really enjoyed taking part, it’s amazing how many birds we saw in just an hour!”
Vivian our resident ambassador said:
“We have a beautiful garden here and we’re very lucky that we see so many different types of birds. I love all birds but I have an extra soft spot for a robin, you just can’t help but smile when you see one.”
