Residents join in with UK’s largest garden-based citizen science project

Residents at Camelot House and Lodge have been busy preparing fat-balls for the birds who visit their garden ahead of the UK’s largest annual garden-based citizen science project which is due to take place next weekend.

Manager Zillah Oakes said: “Lots of the ladies and gents who live with us have had a life-long interest in birds and are aware of their dramatic decline over the past 50 years, so they’re very keen for us to gather and share data with the annual Great Garden Birdwatch.

“Many of them have enjoyed feeding birds in their own gardens, and there’s a lot of interest in the feathered friends who frequent the gardens at the home.

“We’ve got bird-feeders located in clear view of the lounge and we support our residents to use binoculars so they can have a good up-close look at our little visitors, which means we’re well placed to take part in the survey.

“All we have to do next weekend is just spend an hour watching and recording the birds we see in our garden and send our results to the RSPB.”

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch takes place on the last weekend of January every year and has been running since 1979, originally as a project for junior members of the charity.

Zillah Oakes said: “Apparently one in four species is now under serious threat, and this event offers us the chance to play a part in helping conservationists understand how various species are faring, which can feed into them creating action plans to help our native birds.

“It’s an activity that will make our bird-spotters feel really useful and that’s a very important part of the care we provide – everyone likes to feel needed.

“Activities like creating fat-balls to put on our feeding stations also help give our ladies and gents a feeling of usefulness, and we keep the bird tables in our gardens well stocked so there’s always some activity to watch out there, which is especially lovely at this time of year and keeps us all feeling connected to nature.”

So far this year sparrows, starlings, gold finch and blackbirds have been spotted in the garden at Camelot House and Lodge, as well as robins and various species of tit.

Residents’ interest is also being kept engaged with various other bird-themed activities, including colouring activities and quizzes.

The bird-watching project is running as part of a wide and varied programme of activities designed to maintain engagement and socialising among the residents of Camelot House and Lodge.

More details on the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch are available at www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch