The milder winter has led to a significant increase in smaller birds visiting Scotland's gardens, but favourites such as starlings and song thrushes are still struggling , a major survey has found.
It also underlines the importance of continuing to feed birds in our gardens.
Across Scotland over 36,000 people joined in the world’s largest garden wildlife survey during the last weekend in January. Participants counted 626,335 feathered visitors during the 37th RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. They witnessed some exciting and interesting changes among the country’s most popular garden birds, according to the charity.
Long-tailed tits were seen in over a third of Scottish gardens, while other garden birds to benefit from the milder winter temperatures were great tits and coal tits. But house sparrows remain top of Big Garden Birdwatch in Scotland, with chaffinches and starlings rounding off the top three.
The percentage of participants’ gardens in Scotland that were visited by a long-tailed tit saw a massive 166 per cent increase this year. The 34 per cent of gardens recording a long-tailed tit compared to 12.9 per cent in 2015.
RSPB experts are linking the rise in sightings of long-tailed tits, as well as other smaller gardens birds, to the milder weather in the months leading up to the Birdwatch. Small, insect-eating birds, like long- tailed tits, are particularly susceptible to the cold as the food they rely on is hard to come by in frosts and snow, so milder conditions are likely to have contributed to a higher survival rate.
Keith Morton, Species Policy Officer at RSPB Scotland, said: “Different birds are affected in different ways by the weather and this winter has seen milder temperatures and some very wet periods in parts of Scotland, although several areas did have a lot of snow fall over Big Garden Birdwatch weekend. The increase in smaller garden birds recorded, such as long-tailed tits, suggests that the lack of sustained cold weather helps these species survive in far greater numbers over the winter months. The food these birds rely on, such as insects, would have been easier to find, helping to boost the numbers of them spotted in Big Garden Birdwatch hour.”
He said during periods of colder temperatures birds struggle to find food in the wider countryside so become more reliant on garden feeders. Long-tailed tits, and other smaller birds, have adapted to feeding on seeds and peanuts at bird tables or from hanging feeders.
Since 2006 the average number of long-tailed tits seen in UK gardens has increased by 52 per cent while great tit numbers have gone up by 13 per cent and coal tits by 9 per cent.
Mr Morton said: “These increases in smaller birds show how important well stocked feeders are for them. Although they might have found gathering food easier in the wild this winter, birds will still have needed the food people put out for them. Once a bird has found a reliable source of food it will keep coming back to it.”
Despite this boost in numbers many other garden favourites are still struggling. In Scotland sightings of well known species such as starlings and song thrushes have experienced another drop during the Big Garden Birdwatch this year. This decline continues a trend that has seen the number of both species visiting UK gardens decline by 81 per cent and 89 per cent retrospectively since the first Birdwatch in 1979.
"Big Garden Birdwatch helps us understand the long term trends for our garden birds and many of our favourites are struggling. You can help them by making a home for nature in your garden or outdoor space. Watch how the birds use these areas. This will help guide you to where is best to place food and water for them, and where might be the ideal place for a nest box. Planting nectar rich plants can help not just birds but insects and mammals too,” Mr Morton said.
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