Britain's small birds have been boosted by warmer winter, says RSPB ahead of annual survey
Britain's smallest birds have been boosted by the mild winter, the RSPB has said, as they launch their annual Big Garden Birdwatch survey.
People taking part in the count, which has been going on for 41 years and is the biggest wildlife survey in the world, are likely to see coal tits, blue-tits, long-tailed tits, wrens and gold crests.
Long-tailed tits can be seen huddling together for warmth in the cold, but their populations can be decimated by harsh winters. The RSPB has seen an uptick in these this year on their sites.
Freezing winters in the 60s and 80s devastated populations but they are quite a resilient species and seem to be bouncing back. Our gardens have become good places for small birds to survive the winter; they have over the past few decades begun to make more use of feeders.
The UK's smallest bird, the goldcrest, is also likely to see an increase this year, the bird charity said. They weigh around the same as a 20 pence piece and migrate from Scandinavia in the autumn. The tiny birds are vulnerable to bad winters as they struggle to conserve enough energy to both scavenge for food and stay warm through the night.
Martin Fowlie, an RSPB spokesperson, said: “The unseasonably warm winter weather four years ago saw long-tailed tits fly into the top ten most spotted birds, with a 44 per cent increase of recorded appearances compared to 2015 results. We linked this increase to the mild winter conditions so we’re itching to see whether this year’s results could top 2016 numbers. These petite and outgoing birds huddle together for warmth to shield themselves from bitter winter weather- not unlike penguins- but they are so tiny they struggle to find the balance between finding enough food to eat and conserving the right amount of energy to survive plunging temperatures overnight. Harsh, prolonged winters can decimate populations.
“It's true winters are getting milder. Some species such as robins, nuthatches, wrens and treecreepers have shown increases which may be connected to warmer winter and spring weather. But these figures do not tell the whole story. If we fail to avert the climate crisis the future for nature is bleak. Increased temperatures over winter are coming hand in hand with extreme weather such as record-breaking rainfall that can intensify wildlife’s fight for survival, particularly for small birds. Species can withstand these ‘shocks’ for now but populations are likely to slump if they continue.”
Populations of small birds have entered British gardens over the past four decades as people leave food out for them.
The goldfinch, a colourful finch with a distinctive red face, is one of these. Their numbers in gardens increased by 47 per cent over the last decade. They entered the top 10 most seen garden birds for the first time in 2008 and last year climbed to number six in the Big Garden Birdwatch Results.
Some birds have declined in our gardens over the decades. The songthrush has lost many of the hedgerows where it likes to nest and by last year, numbers of song thrushes seen in gardens had declined by 76 per cent. House sparrows have also lost nesting sites and the decline in numbers since the birdwatch began is 56 per cent.
To take part in this year's survey, people just need to watch the birds in the garden or local park for one hour over the three days of the survey, taking place on January 25-27, recording the highest number of each species they see at any one time.
