Simon's Blog - The Big Garden Birdwatch 2015

It's the biggest nature survey in the world and to take part you only need an hour of free time.

The RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch will take place this weekend and the records from us counting birds in our gardens or local parks will provide a snapshot of how the UK's bird population is fairing this winter.

It all began in 1979 when the RSPB asked its junior members to spend an hour counting the birds that visited their back gardens over one weekend. The idea was so successful that the survey has been an annual event ever since and in the last 35 years more than 6 million birds have been counted.

Here's the top 10 from last year in the ITV Meridian region...

1 - House Sparrow

2 - Blue tit

3 - Starling

4 - Woodpigeon

5 - Blackbird

6 - Great tit

7 - Robin

8 - Collard dove

9 - Goldfinch

10 - Magpie

Although the house sparrow and starling have consistently been the most spotted birds in the survey, the average numbers seen has fallen drastically. Back in the 70s and 80s it was common to see groups of up to 15 sparrows or starlings, now you would be lucky to see 3 or 4.

Taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch couldn't be simpler. All you need to do is spend an hour of the weekend just watching the birds in your garden. You need to note down what you birds you saw and how many of them and then you submit the details online.

Click here to find more information and to register to take part.

The results will be out in March and the data will be used to help the RSPB decide which birds they need to focus their conservation work on in the future.

To get you in the mood here are a few photos of the birds that have been spotted across the ITV Meridian region.

Tricky to identify a bird in silhouette...but Ian Matthews in Hastings who took the photo is thinking a starling!

From David Leigh in Verwood three cormorants at the Moors Valley Country Club in Ringwood. One of them has a great haircut!

A rare spotting of a white pheasant from Trevor Cridlan in Thame.

And GD Austen was a bit surprised when this egret landed on the roof!

And finally from John Evans, a kingfisher on the River Stour.

If you do spend an hour counting birds this weekend, I'd love to see some photos. Please email them to meriodianweather@itv.com or you can tweet me @SimonParkinITV if you're on Twitter.