BRITISH birds abandoned gardens for the countryside last winter because of the extremely mild weather.

New research shows even frequent visitors, such as the robin, were seldom seen at feeding stations because of a bumper crop of natural foods available to them.

With one of the warmest seasons for many years species such as the willow thrush, coal tit and nuthatch were conspicuous by their absence. Even blackbirds were quite rare, choosing instead to pick at berries in the wild.

The warmest December since 1988 was also the windiest since 1969, meaning birds struggled to cling to feeders. The top three species were still the robin, blackbird and blue tit. However the former has not been seen in such low numbers since 1979. For blackbirds it was the third quietest winter on record, the last one being 2006. But while regular garden visitors were scarce, a complete reversal of the year before, some feeders were graced by some unusual guests, including a willow warbler in Cambridgeshire, a water rail in West Sussex and a hen harrier in Orkney.

Clare Simm, of the British Trust for Ornithology which organises the report, said: "Nobody was expecting a winter like 2012/13, where birds were seen in extremely high numbers, but it was a shock to have almost the opposite last winter."