Smaller birds surviving thanks to warmer winter

If you think you've spotted a few more birds in your garden than usual recently then you'd be right.

The warm winter has led to an increase in numbers of small birds visiting gardens around the UK this year.

See also: Kent town keeps its Christmas tree thanks to nesting dove

See also: Why are starlings mysteriously drowning across Britain?

According to the Guardian there has been a 44% increase in long-tailed tit sightings in comparison to figures from 2015.

But it's not just the tit that has been seen hanging around our greenery more this year, plenty of other small birds are also thought to have made the most of the warmer weather.

Other birds that have been seen in our gardens more frequently include goldfinches, coal tits, greenfinches and woodpigeons.

The results come from the 2016 Big Garden Birdwatch which is conducted by the RSPB.

Nearly 520,000 people from all over the UK contributed to the research in January of this year and a staggering 8,262,662 birds were counted.

The top 10 birds in 2016 were as follows:

1. House sparrow

2. Starling

3. Blue tit

4. Blackbird

5. Woodpigeon

6. Goldfinch

7. Chaffinch

8. Great tit

9. Robin

10. Long tailed tit

The RSPB have suggested that the warmer weather in January meant more of the smaller birds survived the winter to be counted.

While the sparrow kept its place at the top of the list, the long-tailed tit was a new entry to this year's list and the blackbird was the most common garden bird, being seen in 88% of gardens.

Even though the house sparrow tops the list in England, Wales and Scotland, it has dropped to second place in Northern Ireland, beaten to the number one spot by the starling.

You can find out more about the Big Garden Birdwatch on the RSPB website here.