Favourable weather conditions helped boost numbers of goldfinches and other small garden birds spotted in an annual survey, the RSPB said.
More than 420,000 people across the country took part in the conservation charity’s Big Garden Birdwatch in the last weekend of January, recording 6.7 million birds visiting their gardens or local park.
There was a surge in sightings of species such as goldfinches, long-tailed tits and coal tits, with good weather last summer helping deliver a successful breeding season for the birds to swell their numbers.
There was mild autumn and winter weather in the run-up to the survey, making it easier for those birds to find food than in cold frosty conditions and helping more survive the winter.
Sightings of goldfinches were up 11% on the previous year, according to the survey, while long-tailed tits were up 16%, coal tits were up 15% and blue tits up 5%.
There was also a 5% rise in sightings of greenfinches, which was welcomed by conservationists as the birds have suffered a 58% decline since the survey began in 1979.
However, there was a fall in records of blackbirds, with sightings down 18%, and robins, which were down 12% compared to last year.
Wren sightings were also down, by 11%, the results from the survey revealed.
The milder winter can mean birds are less reliant on garden feeders because there is more food in the wider countryside, with potentially fewer birds visiting gardens as a result.
However, the RSPB said robins and wrens did not have a good breeding year last year, unlike tits and finches, and their numbers may be down overall.
RSPB conservation scientist Daniel Hayhow said: “Last summer was a really good year for many breeding birds with warm weather creating great conditions for many smaller birds to raise their young to adulthood.
“The rise in sightings of goldfinch, long-tailed tit and coal tit, along with chaffinches and greenfinches, goes to show that in the absence of cold weather they can survive the winter months in good numbers.
“Looking at the results, it is likely that across the UK this is what people are seeing in their garden.”
He said people will have noticed the weather this winter – before the beast from the east and other snowy, cold storms blew in – was slightly warmer than usual and garden birds will have felt that too.
“It’s usual for there to be more food available in the wider countryside during a mild winter meaning birds are less reliant on the treats we put out on the garden feeders.
“However, unlike the finches and tits, robins and wrens did not have a good breeding season in 2017 and data from other surveys indicate that their numbers may be down overall this year.”
The house sparrow was once again the most commonly seen bird in the survey, with starlings in second place again, though both birds have seen long-term declines in numbers seen per garden since the survey began.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here