Sparrows fly up city chart

The survey is the world’s biggest wildlife trawl with half a million people taking part across the UK.

The results for Londonderry showed there were on average 5.13 sightings of House Sparrow in Londonderry gardens with the species appearing in 76.47 per cent of gardens.

The figures for other species were Chaffinch (5.08 sightings; 81.23 per cent); Starling (4.50 sightings; 61.34 per cent); Goldfinch (3.14 sightings; 44.94 per cent); Blue Tit (2.67 sightings; 81.51 per cent); Blackbird (2.34 sightings; 91.32 per cent); Great Tit (2.06 sightings; 70.31 per cent); Coal Tit (1.90 sightings; 65.55 per cent); Robin (1.46 sightings; 90.48 per cent); and Greenfinch (1.41 sightings; 45.38 per cent).

Ciara Friers, RSPB NI said: “Our results often paint a different picture to other parts of the UK, it’s so important that lots of people take part in the survey to help identify species decline and to find out how garden birds are faring-they are a great indicator of a healthy countryside.”

Visit www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch and www.rspb.org.uk/schoolswatch to find out more about Big Garden.