The Big Garden Birdwatch breaks my heart

Platypus Man

January 31

It's that time of year again, the time when the UK's dedicated nature lovers take part in the RSPB's (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Big Garden Birdwatch, a national survey that has been running annually in one form or another since 1979. It is also, sadly, the time when I have to confess that once again Mrs P and I have failed miserably in our attempt to attract a wealth of birdlife to our modest suburban back garden.

The Woodpigeon was one of just two species to visit our garden over the Birdwatch long weekend

The first event, in 1979, was aimed at children and was a good deal more popular than anticipated. For over two decades the Big Garden Birdwatch continued in this form. Eventually the RSPB must have realised that the buzz created by the Birdwatch every year would be even bigger if anyone could take part, so in 2001 participation was opened up to adults as well. It worked: last year over half a million people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, and between them they recorded a massive 9.1 million birds!

The RSPB is understandably very proud of its Big Garden Birdwatch, which it claims is "the world's largest garden wildlife survey". The benefits are wide-ranging: media coverage helps raise the profile of birds,- and environmental issues more generally - with a wider audience; those taking part get to focus their attention on nature for a while and enjoy consequential benefits for their mental health, and the RSPB collects a wealth of data on which species are thriving and which are struggling.

We were also visited by two male Blackbirds

Unhappily, the picture painted by the Big Garden Birdwatch is not encouraging, with the number of birds plummeting over the decades since it began. For example, House Sparrows are down 57% since 1979, while the number of Song Thrushes has collapsed by 80%.

Our own experience echoes these dismal findings: the results of this year's count at Platypus Towers were, as expected, absolutely abysmal. The Big Garden Birdwatch 2024 ran over a period of three days, during which participants had to record the birds landing in their garden in a one hour period of their choice. In our garden, the number of birds seen throughout the whole three days - not just one hour! - was four.

Yes that's right, we saw a measly four birds in our garden during the entire Birdwatch long weekend! OK, I admit that we weren't watching every daylight minute of all three days, but the room where I work on my laptop overlooks the garden. In addition we spend every tea break in our "garden room", watching what's going on out there (and remember, we're Brits so we have LOTS OF TEA BREAKS!) Not much passes us by, meaning the count of four birds is sure to be fairly accurate.

I'd been topping up the bird table for weeks to get the local birds in the mood for food, and on the first morning of the Birdwatch it was groaning under the weight of the goodies we'd provided. But they went largely ignored. The birds simply stayed away.

It wasn't always like this. We've lived in this house nearly 40 years, and back in the day we welcomed a variety of avian visitors. Starlings, House Sparrows, Blue Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Robins, Wrens, Goldfinches and Dunnocks have all been seen. Memorably, for a few days one winter, a Pied Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail called our garden home. Once we spotted a Sparrowhawk sitting on the roof of the garden shed. A little later we found the remains of what we reckoned to be a Collared Dove on the path, and without doubt the Sparrowhawk was the guilty party. Even a Pheasant, hopelessly lost of course, once dropped in to say hi.

But in recent years, the number and variety of birds in our garden has fallen drastically. I last blogged about the Big Garden Birdwatch in 2020, under the title Birds Don't Come Here Any More. That year, we saw just one male Blackbird! This year, between 26 and 28 January, the only birds to visit our garden were two woodpigeons and two male blackbirds.

OK, we did better in 2024 than in 2020, but there's nothing here to celebrate. I wish I could believe it's simply because all the local birds got a better offer, a garden with tastier food (Mrs P's theory) and fewer visiting cats, but I fear it's worse than that. All the evidence suggests that bird numbers are declining right across the country. It breaks my heart.