Garden bird watch numbers hit 120,000

THE BOOMING interest in wild birds by "armchair birdwatchers" has been underlined by the release of figures which show that a massive 120,000 people took part in the RSPB's Big Garden BirdWatch weekend last month.

The use of "amateur" birdwatchers by both the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology shows that Britain's bird population is the most closely monitored in the world.

Gardens have become a major habitat for wild birds which has suffered in the open countryside because of intensive farming methods and figures gathered by the armchair investigators have been an important source of data to record the growth or decline of many species.

This "citizen science" has been much praised by both organisations in a statement issued at the weekend.