Burnley and Pendle 'twitchers' invited to take part in RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch

For over 40 years, the RSPB has been asking the public to count the birds in their gardens or local green space.

The public is asked to spend just one-hour watching and recording the birds in their garden or local green space, then send their results to the RSPB. Close to half-a-million people join in the Birdwatch every year.

Over the last four decades, 137 million birds have been counted giving the RSPB an astonishing amount of insight into how our wildlife is faring.

Hundreds of thousands of people have volunteered their time providing the RSPB with nearly 9 million hours of monitoring garden birds making it the largest garden wildlife citizen science project.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson, who is supporting the initiative, said: “This is a fantastic initiative from the RSPB, and one that’s incredibly easy for us all to get involved with.

“Apart from the opportunity to get that little bit closer to nature, it’s also a way to help contribute to understanding the health of bird populations, not just in Pendle but right across Britain.”

For four decades, Big Garden Birdwatch has highlighted the winners and losers in the garden bird world. It was one of the first surveys to alert the RSPB to the decline in the number of song thrushes in gardens.

This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in1979 but 30 years later its numbers are less than half those recorded in 1979. By 2019, numbers of song thrushes seen in gardens have declined by 76%, coming in at number 20.

To take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2020, watch the birds in your garden or local park for one hour at some point over the three days. Only count the birds that land, not those flying over. Tell us the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time – not the total you see in the hour.