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WHAT'S NUMBER ONE IN EAST YORKSHIRE
GARDENS?
We suspect the Blackbird
may be the most common garden bird across East Yorkshire but we
don’t know! The BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch survey is now in its
11th year and has been keeping a close eye on the comings and goings
of Britain’s garden birds. The next step is to look at a local
level so we can see which birds are doing best in different parts
of the country. The BTO needs more garden owners to help record
birds in private gardens around the East Yorkshire area.
Birds are everywhere,
but our first daily contact with them is usually over our mug of
morning tea as we look out into our gardens. These spaces provide
a valuable habitat not only for birds but also for a wealth of other
wildlife. The BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch survey has been monitoring
the use of gardens by birds for over a decade and has built up a
fantastic nationwide picture of what is going on. We need your help
to turn the focus towards what is happening at the local level so
we can look for differences between regions.
“We need more
people in East Yorkshire to record the birds that visit their gardens
and we would like to double the number of participants that we currently
have in East Yorkshire. It is a great way to take part in an interesting
survey and to contribute, along with thousands of others, to an
important monitoring scheme” says Martin Fowlie from the Garden
BirdWatch Team.
“I grew up in
East Yorkshire and have fond memories of watching birds in my garden
as a child. East Yorkshire is nationally famous for its bird reserves
and it would be great to have good information on what is also happening
in the county’s gardens.” Martin adds.
The BTO scheme needs
people in East Yorkshire to record the occurrence of birds in their
gardens. It has been running its Garden BirdWatch survey since 1995
and has highlighted changes in the use of the nation’s gardens
by different bird species. Some 129 participants currently take
part in Garden BirdWatch in East Yorkshire and send in simple weekly
records of the bird species using their gardens. To receive a free
information pack, phone on 01842 750050 or write to GBW, Room 31,
British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24
2PU.
Notes for editors
1) The BTO/CJ Garden
BirdWatch is the only nationwide survey of garden birds to run weekly
throughout the year, providing important information on how birds
use gardens, and how this use changes over time. Currently, some
16,500 people take part in the project. The BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch
is funded by participants’ contributions and supported by
CJ WildBird Foods Ltd and is the largest year round survey of garden
birds anywhere in the world. For more information see www.bto.org/gbw.
2) Colour photographs.
Images of garden birds are freely available for use in association
with this press release. Please contact images@bto.org to request
an electronic version.
3) CJ WildBird Foods.
CJ WildBird Foods is Europe’s leading supplier of bird food
and bird feeding products. CJ WildBird Foods has been responsible
for a number of significant developments within the bird food and
feeding industry, including the introduction of black sunflower
seeds to the UK as a major new bird food and the development of
specialist seed mixes for use in tubular feeders. The company has
also been supporting research into the changing fortunes of garden
bird populations, most notably through the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch.
4) The top 10 UK garden
species and the percentage of gardens in which they are recorded
1) Blackbird 97%
2) Blue Tit 90%
3) Robin 81%
4) Greenfinch 79%
5) Woodpigeon 79%
6) Collared Dove 79%
7) Dunnock 77%
8) House Sparrow 76%
9) Chaffinch 75%
10) Great Tit 74%
5) The BTO has an
ISDN line available for radio interviews.
Contacts.
Dr Martin Fowlie (Promotions
Officer)
01842-750050 (office)
press AT bto.org
BTO Digital Image Library
images AT bto.org
NB: email address are displayed as 'name AT bto .org' instead of
'name@bto.org' in order to avoid automated spamming of recipients.
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