COUNTRY LIFE
Blue tits again
top the poll
Around 2,000 Islanders took part in this year’s
large roosts around the region. It’s thought
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, and helped reveal
that this may in part be the effect of the mild
that the blue tit has retained the top spot with
weather. However, we also need to bear in
an average of 3.6 seen here per garden.
mind breeding numbers of starlings are also
The house sparrow jumped into second place
on the Island, ousting the blackbird, which
dropped into third. The survey discovered that
falling and there may be fewer birds around in
general.”
In contrast to the falling numbers of starlings,
across the UK blackbird numbers were down
the survey revealed some birds prospering.
22 per cent on last year, probably due to milder
Nationally, goldfinches are up to number seven
weather which enabled them to find food out
this year. This colourful bird has been steadily
in the wider countryside rather than relying on
increasing in UK gardens and first reached the
gardens for survival.
top ten in 2008.
Somewhat alarmingly, the count revealed that
Samantha added: “It is great that so many
starling numbers are at an all time low; indeed
people use Big Garden Birdwatch as an annual
the lowest number seen since the survey
activity to monitor what is happening in their
began more than 30 years ago. On the Island
own gardens”
the average was just 2.5 starlings per garden,
well below the national numbers.
Isle of Wight Big Garden
Birdwatch results:
Ave = average number seen per
garden; per cent is number of
gardens in which the bird was seen
1, Blue tit
Ave, 3.563; 87.96 per cent.
2, House sparrow
Ave, 3.306; 52.59 per cent.
3, Blackbird
Ave, 2.558; 92.13 per cent.
4, Starling
Ave, 2.457; 36.20 per cent.
5, Wood pigeon
Ave, 2.258; 76.94 per cent.
6, Chaffinch
Ave, 1.770; 49.91 per cent.
7, Great tit
Ave, 1.594; 56.67 per cent.
8, Jackdaw
Ave, 1.530; 38.99 per cent.
9, Robin
Ave, 1.436; 87.87 per cent.
10, Carrion crow
Ave, 1.247; 33.24 per cent.
RSPB South East’s Samantha Stokes said:
“We’ve generally noticed fewer starlings, both
in gardens and at some of the traditionally
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