Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring. Here are some guidelines of how you can take part:
1. Count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour between 23 and 25 January 2026.
Use the tally boxes on the next page to count and record the birds you spot. Transfer your count to the results form. This chart shows some birds you
might see. You may see others, if so record those on the results form too. Where only one bird is shown on the ID Chart, both male and female birds look similar but are not always identical.
2. Following these simple rules makes it easy to count the birds you see. Only include birds that land, not those flying over. Count the highest number of each species you see at any one time, otherwise you could count the same bird twice. For example, if you saw a group of eight Starlings but then towards the end of your hour you saw six together, record ‘8’ as your final Starling count.
3. Go online and tell us what you saw at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Submitting online is quick and easy and it means we can spend more on saving nature as it reduces our costs. Whatever you saw – even if nothing at all – please tell us. The more results we have, the better the picture will be of how garden birds are faring. If you are unable to submit your results online, please complete and send us the print-from-home form.
Use the tally boxes on the next page to count and record the birds you spot. Transfer your count to the results form. This chart shows some birds you
might see. You may see others, if so record those on the results form too. Where only one bird is shown on the ID Chart, both male and female birds look similar but are not always identical.
2. Following these simple rules makes it easy to count the birds you see. Only include birds that land, not those flying over. Count the highest number of each species you see at any one time, otherwise you could count the same bird twice. For example, if you saw a group of eight Starlings but then towards the end of your hour you saw six together, record ‘8’ as your final Starling count.
3. Go online and tell us what you saw at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Submitting online is quick and easy and it means we can spend more on saving nature as it reduces our costs. Whatever you saw – even if nothing at all – please tell us. The more results we have, the better the picture will be of how garden birds are faring. If you are unable to submit your results online, please complete and send us the print-from-home form.
