UK Wildlife Blog

Britains most common bird

Thursday, August 21, 2008 7:36:00 PM

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After the question of what is Britains biggest bird, I thought I'd ask and answer another question: What is Britains commonest bird? The first set of data I have used is that based on numbers of breeding pairs or breeding territories. This is because the actual number of each bird species in the UK rises and falls depending on the time of year due to migrations, breeding and deaths in winter etc, so the number of breeding pairs gives a clearer picture of the true abundance of each species. I also used this data as it is easily accessible on the RSPB website

The top 10 most common British birds are:





1. Wren









2. Chaffinch









3. Robin









4. Blackbird









5. House sparrow









6. Blue tit









7. Wood pigeon









8. Dunnock








9. Willow warbler









10. Great tit








Surprisingly the starling isn't in the top 10, which shows how much its numbers have declined recently

Nature Blog Network

Cleaning the pond and a visitorRSPB Big garden birdwatch 2008

Comments

Loiscakkleberrylane Friday, August 22, 2008 12:04:03 PM

Lovely series and very interesting too!

Adele BrandSittingFox Friday, August 22, 2008 7:37:08 PM

Yeah, when I get starlings in the garden I stop for a second look these days sad

I'm sure most people wouldn't guess that willow warblers are in the top ten!

NeilUkwildlife Friday, August 22, 2008 8:20:08 PM

@ cakkleberry - thanks

@ adele - I was suprised by willow warblers too. What else suprised me was the sky larks at 11 (i thought they were uncommon, but it turns out there just declining rapidly) and 12 the guillemot (as Ive only ever seen 2!)

Andy WilsonDudley Saturday, August 23, 2008 2:45:50 PM

A wren #1 over a House Sparrow, wow.
I stopped putting bird feed in the feeder because there were to many House Sparrows.

NeilUkwildlife Saturday, August 23, 2008 8:16:39 PM

@ dudley - its ironic that the house sparrow is doing TOO well in the US were it has been introduced, mean while in the UK the numbers are declining rapidly

Unregistered user Monday, September 15, 2008 8:56:29 PM

Dean Eades writes: Would you like to Exchange links http://www.BirdMad.com

NeilUkwildlife Monday, September 15, 2008 9:36:41 PM

Sure thing Dean

Unregistered user Wednesday, December 29, 2010 10:40:25 PM

Gavin writes: Has this changed much in the last 2 years? I am looking for an up to date answer as a missing part of my son's Christmas quiz and web searching is offering up Wren (here), Wood Pigeon (Wiki Answers) or House Sparrow (Guardian coverage of the 2010 RSPB 2010 survey). I am inclined to go with the last of these unless anyone has a more informed view?

NeilUkwildlife Thursday, December 30, 2010 10:19:20 PM

The wren anser is based on BTO/RSPb figures for the bird which ahs the highest population. The wood pigeon was found to be seen in the most gardens in a survey (so its the most spotted, probably beacause wrens are small and less obvious, tending to hide away in bushes) and the house sparrow is again the result of a survey involving how many people spotted them (in their gardens) rather than actual population numbers - they may not have spotted wrens that were there and wrens occur in many UK habitats: reedbeds, woodland, hedgerows, farmland, brownfield sites, wasteland, gardens and others so there is a lot of room for them too!

Hope this clear things up a bit smile

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