The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch took place between Friday 23rd and Sunday 25th January 2026. This annual event is one of the largest citizen science wildlife surveys in the UK and helps us gain an understanding of how our garden bird populations are changing in abundance and distribution over time.
In last year’s event, over 590,000 people across the UK took part, counting 9.1 million birds! While House Sparrows took the top spot, counts of this species are down by 64% compared to the first Birdwatch in 1979, mirroring a wider and worrying decline in our bird populations: we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in just the last 60 years. With birds facing so many challenges, it’s more important than ever to get involved in the Birdwatch and continue monitoring their fortunes.
Although the Big Garden Birdwatch has finished, there is still time to submit your results on the RSPB website. Even if you didn’t see anything, it still counts!
Results
Many of our colleagues took part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch from our gardens or local parks, recording the species that visited our patch. With weather warnings across Devon it was a wet and windy weekend, but despite the conditions we were treated to some wonderful sightings and as a group spotted 17 different species.
Some of us were luckier than others:
Laura (Technical Advisor) did the bird count from her local park and saw:
3 Carrion Crow
3 Goldcrest
1 Blackbird
1 Robin
2 Woodpigeon
1 Herring Gull
2 Great Tit
2 Blue Tit
1 Dunnock
Oli (Graphic Designer) saw:
2 Woodpigeon
1 Wren
1 Dunnock
Ruth (Sewing Specialist) saw:
1 Pheasant
Steve (Head of Product and Purchasing) saw:
2 Robin
3 Goldfinch
8 Chaffinch
2 Blue Tit
7 Greenfinch
2 Woodpigeons
1 Starling
2 House Sparrow
1 Great Tit
And Elle (Marketing Coordinator) recorded:
1 Blue Tit
1 Robin
RSPB
For more information on UK garden birds, the Big Garden Birdwatch and how you can help them, please visit www.rspb.org.uk. Here you will find a wealth of information to help you find and identify UK bird species.