The Big Garden Birdwatch falls on the last weekend of January every year and this year, we’re trying to encourage as many of our Berkeley families to take part. On the weekend of the Big Garden Birdwatch itself, taking part couldn't be simpler.

Choose an hour between 26th and 28th January and watch the birds in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park and tell us what you've seen. Count how many birds land there (not fly over). If you see very few birds or none at all, that's also really useful information, so please do let us know.

The following week, children can hand in their recorded sheets to their class teachers. The children can either fill in the sheet (attached to this email) or draw their own tally chart on a separate piece of paper.  

Why is it important?

The Big Garden Birdwatch provides a vital snapshot of how the UK’s garden birds are faring, taken over one weekend. This gives a good general impression of the birds that are doing well and the ones that are struggling. As the first Birdwatch took place more than 40 years ago, there is now a wealth of data to look back on. 

Shockingly, 38 million birds have been lost from the UK’s skies in the last 50 years, so it’s crucial to look after our bird life. The Big Garden Birdwatch helps to monitor how garden birds are faring. Also, people taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch for the first time often find it sparks a passion for nature. 

Here is the website link if you would like to look into it in more detail:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch

I look forward to seeing your results!

Thank you once again for your continued support, Mrs Burnett