BRITISH garden birds have been given a big boost by the ever-growing use of bird feeders by gardeners, according to figures just published by the highly respected British Trust For Ornithology (BT0).

They are the results of a survey carried out last winter - a time when wild birds are increasingly dependent on human help - but there is one piece of bad news: house sparrow numbers continue to collapse, and starling numbers are down too, probably due to predation by pet cats.

The detailed survey of birds using 277 gardens across the UK shows that for seven species - great tit, coal tit, goldfinch, wood pigeon, greater spotted woodpecker, nuthatch and pheasant - last winter's numbers were higher than ever before.

David Glue, writing in the latest issue of BTO News, highlighted three reasons for the high figures: lack of key wild-fruits in the hedgerows and woodland, an increasing reliance upon gardens and improved seed-mixes and food provision.

Unusual visitors to Garden Bird Feeding Survey gardens included red kite, the 162nd species to be seen eating at volunteers' feeding stations in the 32 year history of the survey.

The BTO is always looking for volunteers to take part in its garden bird surveys. For an information pack about membership of Garden BirdWatch and to receive a free issue of Bird Table, the Garden BirdWatch magazine, please phone 01842 750050.

Top twelve garden feeding species Winter 2001/02

Rank	Species	% of gardens	% of gardens in 1990s (*)
1	Blackbird	100.0	99
=2	Blue Tit	99.6	100
=2	Great Tit	99.6	97
4	Robin	99.3	99
5	Chaffinch	96.8	95
6	Greenfinch	96.0	96
7	Dunnock	95.7	95
8	Coal Tit	90.6	85
9	Collared Dove	89.2	86
10	House Sparrow	87.0	93
11	Starling	84.1	93
12	Magpie	72.6	71

* Figures are the average of 10 winters from 1990/91 to 1999/2000