Finches and tits have enjoyed a golden year, according to the results of this year’s RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.

These small bird species suffer particularly badly in cold weather but in the past year benefited from a mild start to the winter that followed a good breeding season. Blackbird sightings in gardens were down – the result of plentiful food elsewhere – but a dearth of robins followed a poor nesting season.

The 39th annual Big Garden Birdwatch took place over the last weekend in January and more than 420,000 people took part, reporting a total of nearly 7 million birds. The event took place before the freezing weather dubbed the “Beast from East” arrived and the storm’s impact will not be known until later in the year after breeding number surveys are completed.

However, the extreme cold is likely to have caused deaths in some populations, at least locally. The icy weather did bring some birds into the UK, with redwings and fieldfares arriving in large numbers, seeking to escape the even harsher weather to the east.

Quick Guide The top 10 birds in the 2018 Big Garden Birdwatch Show 1. House sparrow 2. Starling 3. Blue tit 4. Blackbird 5. Woodpigeon 6. Goldfinch 7. Great tit 8. Robin 9. Long-tailed tit 10. Chaffinch

The biggest increase in birdwatch sightings compared to the previous year were for the brightly coloured goldfinch (+11%), long-tailed tit (+16%) and coal tit (+15%). In May and June 2017, when the birds breed, the weather was warm, meaning more birds fledged. The the autumn and winter were then mild, meaning more survived. Blue tits and chaffinches were also seen more often.

“In a really cold winter, many would die because they are tiny,” said Daniel Hayhow, an RSPB conservation scientist. “To have hundreds of thousands of people spend an hour watching the wildlife in their garden isn’t only great to see, but it also helps us build up a picture of how our garden birds are doing, which is really helpful.”

Sightings of long-tailed tits were up 16% on last year. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

The long-term trend seen in the data from the birdwatch, which began in 1979, shows chaffinches have declined by 55% but all the tits have increased. “The general feeling is that tits are able to adapt better and take advantage of the resources people provide in their gardens,” said Hayhow. As birds that form flocks, they can learn more easily from their peers, he said.

Blackbirds and robins were the birds seen in the highest proportion of gardens, but the number of sightings fell by 18% and 12% respectively this year. Blackbirds like to eat worms, so in a mild winter, when the ground rarely freezes, they can find food widely and visit gardens less frequently.

But the drop in robin sightings stems from a poor breeding season in 2017. The reason is unclear but may, paradoxically, be the result of too many robins competing with each other for food to raise their chicks.



Sparrows were the most commonly spotted birds, with an average of over four per gardens. More than 1 million were counted, close to last year’s figure. Sparrow sightings have fallen by 57% in the four decades of the birdwatch, though the decline has levelled off in the last decade.

Starlings were the second most common sighting this year, but have fallen by 80% since 1979, when the spectacular murmurations their flocks form were a far more common sight. “Many farmland birds have suffered from changes to farming practices,” said Hayhow.

Starling sightings have fallen by 80% since the Big Garden Birdwatch began in 1979. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

One species that has inadvertently benefited from agricultural changes is the woodpigeon, which has the ability to breed all year when food is available. Sightings have shot up tenfold since 1979 as the planting of winter wheat became more common, providing shoots which the birds enjoy.

Hayhow said the birdwatch results for the tits shows garden bird feeders can play an important role in supporting the UK’s birdlife: “What we do in our gardens is important and can influence the future of these species on our doorstep. People can do something really useful.”