Starlings fall to record low in Big Garden Birdwatch

THE lowest number of starlings on record have been spotted in the RSPB's long-running Big Garden Birdwatch citizen science scheme, the charity said.

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The charismatic garden bird dropped from third to fourth place for the most commonly spotted species in the annual birdwatch, with the RSPB warning it has seen an 85 per cent decline in average numbers seen per garden since the scheme began in 1979.

This year, almost 600,000 people took part in the scheme to spend an hour counting birds in their garden or local green space during the last weekend in January, to help conservationists find out how the country’s bird life is faring.

Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said the latest results for starlings were a “reason for concern”.

Although the birds are found across the UK, with numbers swelling during winter when more of the species arrive from northern Europe, and can be seen in huge numbers performing aerial displays known as “murmurations”, they are “red-listed” because of concerns over their declining numbers.