Rare visitors reported in Birdwatch

UK GARDENS are playing host to a wide range of unusual birds, from dippers and little egrets to merlins and even a white-tailed eagle, the first results from an annual survey showed.

The initial results of the Big Garden Birdwatch seem to back predictions that the harsh winter would drive more unusual visitors into gardens to find food.

The RSPB, which runs the wildlife survey, has already received 100,000 results, with 10,000 forms submitted in just one hour on Sunday.

But the bird protection charity is urging people who took part and have not submitted their results to remember to do so.

It says people have already reported seeing dippers, goosanders, little egrets, snipe, cirl buntings and merlins in their gardens. One woman even saw a white-tailed eagle, a species reintroduced to Scotland after being persecuted to extinction, in her Scottish garden.

Flocks of waxwings and other winter migrants including redwings, fieldfares, blackcaps and mealy redpolls were also seen.

Richard Bashford, RSPB Big Garden manager, said: "We really mean it when we say every garden counts, and it doesn't matter if you saw ten different species or none at all - it's important that we know."