THE birds spotted most often in Lancashire have been revealed thanks to an annual mass observation exercise.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has announced the results of its most recent Big Garden Birdwatch.

For 41 years, the RSPB has given people of all ages the chance to count the birds visiting their gardens and help build up an overall picture of the fortunes of the bird population.

This year’s findings, held over the last week in January, have revealed that milder winters help small garden birds such as wrens and tits to thrive with the house sparrow taking the top spot both in Lancashire and the UK as a whole, however other breeds have seen a worrying drop in their numbers.

RSPB conservation scientist Daniel Hayhow said: “Small birds suffer during long, cold winters but the warmer January weather this year appears to have given species such as the wren and long-tailed tit a boost.

“Over the survey’s lifetime, we’ve seen the increasing good fortunes of birds such as the coal tit and goldfinch and the alarming declines of the house sparrow and starling.”

The RSPB has a long history of surveying trends in the British bird population.

In 2009 the survey uncovered an alarming decline in the thrush population, while since 1979 it has also tracked a long-term decline in the numbers of house sparrows

However the house sparrow taking the top population spot this year could be an encouraging sign of a partial recovery.

The second most populous bird in Lancashire was found to be the starling, with the blue tit rounding out the top three.

Almost half a million people across the UK, 10730 of them in Lancashire spent at least an hour birdwatching in their gardens as part of the survey, counting nearly 8 million birds nationwide.

School children were also given a chance to take part, with 70,000 pupils at their teachers participating in the RSPB’s Big Schools Birdwatch throughout the first half of last year’s spring term, in which they spent an hour watching birds in their playgrounds.

They found the blackbird to be the most common bird found in school playgrounds, with an average of five per school.

For a full results visit www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch.