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House Sparrows Topped UK Garden Count for 23rd Year

Female house sparrow perched in a tree at Leeds Castle, Kent
Conservation · Population & status

House sparrows (Passer domesticus) were the most numerous birds recorded in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch for the 23rd consecutive year. Participants counted 1,275,378 during the 2026 event, ahead of blue tits and starlings.

The results, published on 10 April 2026, came from 650,279 participants across the United Kingdom. About 9.4 million birds of over 80 species were recorded during the 47th edition of the survey.

More than 1.27 million house sparrows were recorded

Participants watched a garden, balcony or local green space for one hour during the final weekend of January and reported the highest number of each species seen at the same time. House sparrows ranked first with 1,275,378 birds, followed by blue tits with 1,114,620 and starlings with 796,002. Woodpigeons and blackbirds completed the top five.

First place does not mean the breeding population has recovered

Big Garden Birdwatch is an annual winter snapshot, not a standardised census of the breeding population. House sparrows often occur in groups, so high totals can be produced where colonies remain. RSPB’s long-term Birdwatch data show that House Sparrow sightings are nevertheless 64% lower than when the survey began in 1979. The species can therefore lead the annual garden ranking while still being far less common than it once was.

Broader population monitoring also shows a severe long-term decline, and House Sparrow remains on the UK Red List, although some parts of the UK have shown increases. The 2026 result shows that house sparrows remain the most frequently counted garden bird in this particular national event; it does not by itself demonstrate a nationwide population recovery.

Sources and image credit

  1. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. (2026, April 10). The Big Garden Birdwatch 2026 Results Are In!Official dated RSPB announcement. Reports 650,279 participants, the 2026 top-five ranking and explains the annual one-hour count as a snapshot of garden birds.
  2. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. (2026). Big Garden Birdwatch 2026: The Results.Primary results hub. Reports 9.4 million birds, more than 650,000 participants and 1,275,378 House Sparrows, with the species first for the 23rd consecutive year.

Image: Female house sparrow perched in a tree at Leeds Castle, Kent. Photo: David Iliff (Diliff). Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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