An annual survey has revealed some of Scotland's "best-loved" birds are in decline, with organisers warning of a "nature and climate emergency".
RSPB Scotland hosts the Big Garden Birdwatch each year, in which more than 30,000 people of all ages count the number of birds that visit their garden, balcony or local park, helping the group to get a snapshot of how they are doing.
A total of 650,000 birds were logged among the volunteers but the most recent survey has underlined a serious decline in numbers.
The house sparrow has declined by 60 per cent since the suvery was first carried out in 1979 and nearly 22 million are estimated to have been lost from British skies since 1966.
Read More: World first rewilding centre near Loch Ness opens doors
Song thrush numbers, are down 80% compared to the first Big Garden Birdwatch. This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979 but by 2009, its numbers were less than half those recorded 44 years ago. The song thrush was in 22nd place in the Scottish rankings this year, seen in just 9% of gardens.
This year’s results also highlighted the vulnerabilities of garden birds to issues such as weather and disease. Blue tits, great tits and coal tits, all species which are susceptible to harsh weather conditions, saw significant declines in Scotland compared with the 2022 survey.
In addition, greenfinches and chaffinches have been badly affected by a disease known as Trichomonosis in recent years. As a result, the number of Chaffinches counted in Scotland has declined by nearly 50% since 2009, while Greenfinches have declined by nearly 60% over the same time frame.
Trichomonosis can be spread by contaminated food and drinking water and garden owners can help by ensuring that feeders, bird tables and bird baths are moved around to stop food waste building up, regularly cleaning with a mild disinfectant and only filling up feeders with enough food to last up to two days.
Director of RSPB Scotland, Anne McCall said: “There is nothing quite like Big Garden Birdwatch - 36,000 people, across Scotland, coming together to help build a shared understanding the natural world around us. Thanks to everyone who took part.
"I think all of those people, like me, will love to see gallus little gangs of House Sparrows charging about our parks and gardens. Let’s celebrate the House Sparrow being at the top of the Big Garden Birdwatch list in Scotland for the 12th year running. Overall, the numbers tell us that some of our best loved and familiar birds are in decline.
Read More: Backed by 20mn, is this aspiring 'unicorn' the new community-friendly green rush?
"We are in a nature and climate emergency and we’ve lost 38 million wild birds from UK skies in the last 50 years. But we still have so many natural treasures in Scotland – this is the time for hope, determination, and collective action to halt and reverse declines in nature.
"All around we’re seeing the nature on our doorsteps burst info life now that spring has arrived and I’m hopeful that a growing number of people will feel inspired by this and the rallying call of Sir David Attenborough to save our wild isles. Connecting with nature doesn’t have to stop with the Big Garden Birdwatch; everyone can experience the joy of giving nature a helping hand by going wild once a week.
"From planting wildflowers in a window box to volunteering for local nature projects, why not join us for the Wild Weekender - an inspiring online event packed full of top tips and ideas - big and small - to help get you started in taking action for nature?”
The Wild Weekender takes place from 28 April to 1 May, bringing people together across the country to sow, grow, and create thriving habitats for the nature on our doorsteps.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel