Sparrows top birdwatching ranking
27 March 2008
The house sparrow is the most commonly seen bird in the British Isles, according to new figures from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
With an average of 3.6 spotted per garden, the sparrow perched on top of the Big Garden Birdwatch 2008, followed by the starling and the blackbird.
The winter months proved to be good for finches as their numbers are at their highest levels for five years, while the siskin made it into the top 20 for the first time in the survey's 29-year history.
Finches are particularly attracted to thistles and teasels which provide them with a source of food, the RSPB explains.
The information was compiled from data from nearly 400,000 people who counted more than six million birds across 228,000 gardens earlier this year.
Online resource British Garden Birds explains that sparrows will readily use nesting boxes and so can easily be tempted to take up residence in a garden.
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