{"id":25560,"date":"2023-04-18T17:19:06","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T15:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=142991"},"modified":"2023-04-20T12:35:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T10:35:38","slug":"big-garden-birdwatch-2023-reveals-decline-in-house-sparrows","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/big-garden-birdwatch-2023-reveals-decline-in-house-sparrows\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 reveals decline in house sparrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

House sparrows held onto the top spot in the annual survey, but conservationists are worried about their long-term decline. <\/p>

By Megan Shersby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 18 April 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

For the twentieth year in a row, house sparrows have claimed the top spot in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch<\/a>, with nearly 1.5 million being spotted during the weekend in late January.<\/p>\n

However, the RSPB are concerned as the species has suffered severe declines, with numbers having dropped by 60 per cent since the survey first began 44 years ago. It\u2019s thought that the UK has lost nearly 22 million house sparrows since 1966.<\/p>\n

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House sparrow numbers have severely declined since the survey began\/Credit: Ray Kennedy (rspb-images.com)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cWhile we celebrate the 20-year stint of the house sparrow at number one, the numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the startling declines of some of our once common birds,\u201d says Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB. \u201cThey no longer have the abundance across the UK that they used to have. We are in a nature and climate emergency and we\u2019ve lost 38 million birds from our skies in the last 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch<\/a> has been running for more than four decades, and is the world\u2019s largest garden wildlife survey.<\/p>\n

This year over half a million people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, and submitted sightings of more than nine million birds.<\/p>\n

Coming in second in this year\u2019s survey was the blue tit followed by starling<\/a>, wood pigeon and blackbird<\/a>. See the full results below:<\/p>\n

  1. House sparrow<\/li>\n
  2. Blue tit<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Starling<\/li>\n
  4. Woodpigeon<\/li>\n
  5. Blackbird<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Robin<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Goldfinch<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Great tit<\/li>\n
  9. Magpie<\/li>\n
  10. Long-tailed tit<\/li>\n<\/ol>