On the 29th January I took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch for 2011. Today I received a leaflet through the post showing the results, and I thought it would be interesting to compare my sightings to the nationwide averages.

The top 10 birds from the survey are as follows:

1. House Sparrow.  Average sightings per garden 4.2. I saw 11, which doesn’t surprise me as I’ve always known we had a healthy sparrow population here.

2. Starling. Average sighting per garden 3.9. I saw 6, which once again doesn’t surprise me. We have lots of starlings who seem to like to nest in our roof.

3. Blackbird. Average sighting per garden 3.3. I saw 7, blackbirds just love it in our garden, and particularly enjoy the abundance of windfall apples through the autumn and winter.

4. Blue Tit. Average sighting per garden 3.2. I saw 3 which is about average , but as I said at the time I thought this figure was a bit low based upon my casual observations from other days.

5. Chaffinch.  Average sighting per garden 2.4. I didn’t see any on the day, but I know we have several pairs.

6. Woodpigeon. Average sightings per garden 1.9. Once again I didn’t see any on the day, but I know we have at least one pair as they canoodle on top of our pergola most evenings and eat my peas and cauliflowers.

7. Great Tit. Average sightings per garden 1.6. I saw 2 which turns out to be average, but probably lower than I would have expected.

8. Goldfinch. Average sightings  per garden 1.5. I didn’t see any which doesn’t surprise me because although I do see them occasionally they are usually flying over the garden, they rarely stay.

9. Robin. Average sightings per garden 1.5. I’m happy to report I saw 4, they are such a joy to watch.

10. Collared Dove. Average sightings per garden 1.3. I saw 2 which is a bit lower than I would have expected.

So there we are, the results are in. The only birds I saw not in the top 10 were a coal tit and a dunnock.

All in all I’m pretty pleased with the birds I get in the garden and will definitely be taking part in next years RSPB Birdwatch.