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The BTO has announced that it has made membership to its long-standing Garden BirdWatch (GBW) scheme free for the duration of the current nationwide lockdown.

With many birders now focusing on bird activity in their gardens to enjoy and connect to nature, GBW offers a great opportunity to learn more about garden birds and other wildlife, and to contribute directly to BTO's important scientific research on the value of gardens for nature.

The GBW survey simply involves keeping a list of the birds you see visiting your garden over the course of a week, and then entering this into the BTO's online recording system. You can also record other garden wildlife, such as butterflies and mammals.



Garden BirdWatch is a great way to keep a constant eye on fluctuating populations of familiar garden birds, such as Blue Tit (Clive Daelman).

GBW is normally run as a membership, with an annual fee of £17, and includes a book and regular magazines. The generous financial support of participants is what allows BTO to carry out its work monitoring garden wildlife and scientific research.

BTO has said that it wants to enable more people to get involved in garden wildlife recording under the current circumstances, to discover an enjoyable purpose in garden birdwatching, and to feel part of a community all working on the same project, despite the British public being confined to their homes and gardens.

The free offer does not include the book or magazines, and will instead be online only, including:

Access to the GBW online recording system;

A regular e-newsletter with information on recording and identifying garden wildlife;

Access the BTO's team of wildlife experts, to answer your questions;

The free membership will be valid for one year, after which it will expire as normal.

Kate Risely, Garden BirdWatch Organiser at the BTO, said: "A connection to nature is so important to our well-being, and the easiest place to watch and learn about wildlife is in our own gardens. We hope that this opportunity to join the Garden BirdWatch community will help people across the UK find new meaning in their garden birdwatching, to learn new things and to play a part in national research into our garden wildlife."

To take part in Garden BirdWatch, visit www.bto.org/join-gbw.