Rockin’ Robin at the top of the pecking order

IT USED to be that you had more chance of seeing one on a Christmas card than in your garden. But now the robin has fought its way to be the most common visitor to the bird table.

The latest research by the British Trust for Ornithology into bird varieties in our gardens over winter shows robins topping the list after a steady rise over the past 40 years.

Other species that made it into the winter top 12 of 1970 – the robin was fifth – have not fared so well.

This year, for the first time in the survey’s history, the house sparrow is absent from the top dozen. In 1970, it was the fourth most commonly seen bird but since then, sightings have dropped by two thirds.

Experts say robins are perfectly adapted to garden living, enjoying most titbits people put out for them and fighting off any competitors due to their aggressive, territorial nature.

Dr Tim Harrison, Garden BirdWatch development officer at the British Trust for Ornithology, said: “They are small but feisty. Of all the garden birds they are the most strongly territorial.

“They will particularly fight off other robins but sometimes you get a robin that is just very unhappy about any bird showing an interest in its food.”

He said robins will even attack red material that looks vaguely like another robin.

The Garden Bird Feeding Survey has been taking place since 1970, making it the longest running survey of its kind in the world. Households record all species seen on bird tables and feeders from October to March.

Last winter, robins had a 100 per cent success rate, with every household that took part in the survey spotting one of the birds in their garden.

In 1970, when the survey started, the blackbird was in top spot. The newly published data for winter 2010-2011 shows the blackbird as second most commonly seen, and the blue tit third. Both were seen in 99 per cent of gardens.

The house sparrow’s decline has been so severe it is now on a list of endangered species.

Tidier gardens are thought to be part of the reason for the decline as the birds like wild, weedy areas where they can forage for food. They also like to nest under roof tiles but new, modern designs mean there is no space.

These days they are most commonly seen in older, less affluent neighbourhoods, where houses are less likely to have been modernised and landscaped, decked gardens are less common.

Another species less likely to be seen in gardens today is the starling. At position three in 1970, it is now in 12th place, with sightings dropping by about 60 per cent. This is most likely to be due to changes in agricultural practices destroying its favoured habitat.

And another bird traditionally associated with gardens, the song thrush, has gone from ninth position in 1970 to being off the top 12 list today. Sightings have dropped by 70 per cent.

Again Harrison believes changing farming practice is responsible, with a decline in the number of song thrushes in the wider environment leading to fewer making it into gardens.

Other species have seen a dramatic increase. The goldfinch, collared dove and wood pigeon are all now on the top 12 list, whereas they were rarely seen in gardens in 1970.

There has been a 44-fold rise in goldfinches seen over the past four decades. They are believed to particularly like the oil-rich foods commonly put out by households. Whereas home owners used to sprinkle kitchen scraps such as bread and cake crumbs, in the garden, and hang half coconuts full of fat and peanuts on strings, there is now a multi-million-pound market in bird food. Oil rich nyjer seeds and sunflower hearts have become popular, and new feeder designs help attract different species.

It is estimated Britons now spend £200 million a year on bird food and equipment.

“We are spending colossal sums of money and 40 to 50 per cent of householders now provide food in their gardens,” said Harrison. “As more and more people live in towns and cities, they don’t experience the natural world very often and this provides a link back to nature.”

The wood pigeon, which is a newcomer in the top 12, has a huge appetite, hoovering up as much food as seven sparrows. It has seen a 13-fold increase in sightings since the 1970s.

“They are rather divisive garden guests,” said Harrison. “People will put out food for the smaller birds and the wood pigeons come along and snaffle it all up.”