Photo credits to Steve Ryles
Dear sir,
The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is running this month on 27th-29th January. Big Garden Birdwatch is fun, free and for everyone. And you don’t need a garden to take part. Counting birds from your balcony, or your local park, will play a vital role in helping us understand how UK birds are doing. Everyone that takes part plays an important role in helping to track how our birds are faring. So, if you’ve made a resolution to take more action for nature this year, this is a great way to start.
I would urge Congleton residents to take part in this survey. The fact that we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in the last 50 years underlines that nature is in crisis.
We see it in our own back gardens with house sparrows struggling and starlings undergoing a severe decline. The results over the past few years have been startling, however with the Birdwatch results it helps to monitor how our UK birds are faring in the face of the nature and climate emergency.
You don’t need to be an RSPB member to take part and if you’re a teacher, you can inspire your students with Big Schools’ Birdwatch.
To take part you can simply register online at https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/everything-you-need-to-know-about-big-garden-birdwatch
Simply choose an hour between 27 and 29 January and count the birds you see land in your garden, on your balcony, or in your local park. Then document what you saw either online or written down and return in the envelope provided. Even if you saw nothing, it still counts. Only one Birdwatch is accepted per person/per location, If you want to do more than one birdwatch over the weekend just make sure you do it from a different location.
Today we face the double, interlinked emergencies of human-induced climate change and the loss of biodiversity, threatening the well-being of current and future generations. As our future is critically dependent on biodiversity and a stable climate, it is essential that we understand how nature’s decline and climate change are connected.
This is is why, as a passionate bird watcher and nature conservationist, I’ll be taking part in this survey and urge others to help too.
Many thanks
Lisa Miller
Congleton Green Party