21.11.2019 - BTO Garden Bird and Wildlife Surveys

​Speaker: David White
Reporter: Sue Gale

The Garden Birdwatch scheme, run by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), has now been running for 25 years, during which time over 11000 members have submitted over 250,000 records. Norfolk is the county with most members, perhaps not surprisingly as we are such a birdy place! The weekly returns cover not only birds but mammals, insects etc seen in gardens, but most records are of birds. The most commonly seen birds are Blackbird, Robin, Blue Tit and Woodpigeon, in that order, so no surprises there. The sad part is that many species are declining, Greenfinches and Song Thrushes amongst them. The latter are now only found in 20% of gardens when they used to be in almost all of them.

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