Make the most of the Big Garden Birdwatch

Every January, hundreds of thousands of people across the UK spend an hour watching the birds in their garden or local green space for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch — one of the largest citizen science projects in the world.

Why it matters

A single hour of counting doesn’t sound like much, but multiplied across hundreds of thousands of gardens, it builds one of the most valuable long-term pictures of how garden bird populations are changing year to year. It’s simple, free, and genuinely useful data.

Getting the most from your hour

Pick a spot with a clear view of your garden or a local green space, settle in for an uninterrupted hour, and note the highest number of each species you see at any one time — not a running total, which can double-count the same birds visiting repeatedly. Feeders topped up a week or two in advance tend to bring in more regular visitors on the day itself.

Logging it in Trip Tick

Start a trip in Trip Tick right at your window or garden gate, and log each species as you spot it during your hour, same as any other outing. It’ll sit in your life list and location totals alongside everything else you’ve logged, so a quiet garden count builds into your wider record over time rather than living on a separate form.

Beyond the one hour

If a single count leaves you wanting more, garden watching is a great excuse to start a dedicated “home patch” in Trip Tick — tag your garden as a location and keep an eye on it through the seasons, not just for one weekend a year.