Moorhen and chick

The snowy weather over the last week or so has made spotting bird activity in the back garden so much easier – with everything white the one little blue tit moving through a bush is much more obvious. It's good to use this opportunity to get used to recognising the birds that you do get visiting your garden in practice for this year's RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. 

This year the Birdwatch is taking place on the 30 – 31 January and all you have to do is spend one hour counting the maximum number of each type of bird that you see at any one time, either in your own back garden or in a local park. For RSPB members there should be a survey form with your February edition of Birds magazine that should be dropping through your letter box at any time (weather permitting!) or you can go online and submit your results on their website.

The Birdwatch is very much something that can be done together as a family and there are other bird related activities that the whole family can get involved in – making bird feeders from recycled materials or making bird cakes to put out on your bird table. Instructions for both of these can be found here on the RSPB website.

This year there is also a Big School's Birdwatch running from the 18 January to the 1 February and a Little School's Birdwatch especially created for the under 5s. Teachers can get resources to support this involvement in these school's birdwatches by contacting the RSPB, again via the relevant page on their website.