Top Ten Garden Birds 2026
Reports
The last weekend in January 2026 was the weekend of the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch. This was the forty-sixth year of this event. Households on Arran not only took part in this survey of garden birds, but some shared their results with me. This year there were thirty-four sets of Arran results sent to me, compared to twenty-four last year, thirty-one in 2024, twenty-eight in 2023, twenty-six in 2022, and thirty-five in 2021.
As in previous recent years the weekend was dominated by blustery wind and rain but that did not deter the enthusiasm of the participants
The range of species seen in each garden ranged from seventeen to one with twenty-two of the gardens recording ten or more species. Six gardens recorded more than sixty birds, and one of these had a total of one hundred and forty-nine birds. In total, twenty-nine species were reported which is one less than last year. The following species were recorded this year but not last: Common Gull, Raven and Sparrowhawk. The following species were not recorded this year but were recorded last year: Common Crossbill, Redpoll, Mistle Thrush and Pied Wagtail. Comparing species that were seen in both years, Coal Tit went from being recorded in 78% of the gardens last year to 94% of the gardens this year. Similarly, Greenfinch went from 35% of the gardens last year to 47% of the gardens this year. On the other hand, Blackbird went from being recorded in 97% of gardens last year to 73% this year, Goldfinch went from 61% to 23% and Siskin went from 30% to 11%.
Chaffinch was recorded in every garden and Blue Tit and Coal Tit were recorded in all except two gardens. Chaffinch had the largest total of birds, namely 411. House Sparrow had the second largest total, 210 and Coal Tit the third largest total, 151.
From the collation from all the gardens, the top ten birds this year in terms of the number of gardens in which they were seen are: Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Great Tit, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Blackbird, Greenfinch and Collared Dove. This is the same top eight as last year, with Greenfinch and Collared Dove replacing Goldfinch and Woodpigeon in the top ten. The order is different with some species moving up and others moving down. For example, Coal Tit moved up from 7th last year to 2nd this year while Blackbird moved down from 1st last year to 8th this year.
While this information is interesting, too much should not be read into these small samples. It is a fun survey to do but it only covers one weekend in the year. If you enjoy your garden birds, there is a survey that you can join that encourages people to record their garden bird sightings every week of the year. It is called the British Trust for Ornithology Garden BirdWatch (GBW). To find out more about the BTO Garden BirdWatch visit the website Garden BirdWatch | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw
