Our beloved robins are falling on hard times - and they are not the only ones. According to the RSPB, the popular garden bird has been reclassified from green (least conservation concern) to amber (medium concern), following data from the most recent Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland list. And the species isn't alone - of the top 10 species counted in last January's Big Garden Birdwatch survey, nine had declined from the previous year. Meanwhile, greenfinch (Chloris chloris), mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus), stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) and goldcrest (Regulus regulus) in Ireland have also been reclassified from green to amber for the same reason as the robin (Erithacus rubecula) - a decline of more than 25% in breeding populations over 15 years.
The conservation charity is calling on wildlife fans to help find out how our garden birds are faring in this year's Big Garden Birdwatch - the world's biggest wildlife survey.
For the past 36 years the nature charity has been asking people to count the birds which visit their garden to help create a 'snapshot' picture of bird numbers in the UK.
Of the 127,700 birds counted in Northern Ireland during last year's Birdwatch, house sparrows were the most commonly seen, in 66% of gardens. House sparrows were the only species out of the top 10 to increase in numbers last year, climbing by 8%. Chaffinches, at number three in the list, declined by 20% in a year, great tits were down by 23% and coal tits by 35%.
The RSPB said the smaller the bird the more likely it was to be affected by prolonged winter cold, with robins, wrens and blue tits particularly vulnerable.
"A bird will lose a substantial proportion of its body weight during one cold night, and unless able to replenish its reserves, a prolonged cold spell could be catastrophic," spokesperson Amy Colvin said.
Source: Belfast Telegraph, 19 January 2015
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/…
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