About the survey
How the survey forms were returned
About three-quarters of the survey forms were returned by post, and about a quarter entered online. A few were sent by fax, and a few by email.
More than a third of the returns were from survey forms published in The Press (and other newspapers, viz. the Ashburton Guardian and Dannevirke News).
Some people who did the survey forgot to send in their forms. At least one person did the survey and posted the form but it never arrived. Another survey form was lucky to arrive. A lady, who lives in the country, duly completed the survey and placed the form in her mailbox for the rural delivery person to pick up. Two weeks later, while taking her dog for a walk, she found the form on the grass verge at the side of the road some distance away, very wet and soggy. She then remembered noticing a starling trying to use her mailbox as a nest, carrying mail away and dropping it on the ground.
Invalid returns
In addition to the 2064 valid returns there were a further 59 returns that could not be used in the analyses. For example, some people just ticked the presence of birds but did not count the most seen at one time during the hour, while others accumulated bird observations throughout the day (or even week). Some people didn’t count in one place (e.g. they walked along a road) or didn’t give their name and/or location where they did the survey. Others did the survey too early (before the official dates) or too late (after the official dates).
Entries such as “lots”, “heaps”, “too many to count”, and even a range (30–40) were not helpful – it is easier for the observer to estimate a number at the time than for somebody else to interpret such observations. If there are lots of birds, at least make a guess (e.g. a guess of “50” is better than “lots”).
A few people said they could not distinguish between house sparrows and hedgesparrows (dunnocks), or between blackbirds and starlings.
Comments from participants
All ages participated in the survey, from 5 year olds (with their parents or grandparents) to a 98 year old. Many people said how much they enjoyed doing the survey, and provided extra comments about the birds normally present in their gardens but not present during the one hour of the survey. A common comment was, “I didn’t see as many birds as I normally do.” Poor weather during the survey week was probably largely to blame for this.
Other comments included:
“I enjoyed doing the survey”
“Great to take part in this survey”
“This is a great thing”
“It’s really good”
“I am so pleased to see this survey”
“We love our birds!”
“Birds … add another dimension to our garden”
“I really enjoyed getting to know ‘my’ birds”
“Sort of knew what birds were around but surprised to find some”
“Quite enjoyable sitting in the garden with a glass of wine”
“A most pleasant experience and a successful one”
One of the most memorable comments was from Mrs H.E. Stackhouse who said, “I’m 98 years old and have been feeding birds, big and small for always, as I think they are so helpful eating weed seeds and making life happier.” I think many people would agree that birds make life happier!
One participant said, “I enjoyed doing the survey so much I did it again.” Others were so enthusiastic they did it several times – the most was nine (all in different places)! Some people sent 10-page letters describing their lifetime experiences with birds. Others sent photographs of birds at their feeders, and even recipes of food to feed birds. Some school children sent coloured drawings of birds and short stories about birds. Rosemary Perry kindly sent a children’s book she’d written, Flit and Chat, the Fantails, about a pair of fantails that nested on the wall of her house.
Some people expressed concern that the restricted length of observation (only one hour), time of day, size of observation area, vegetation characteristics of different gardens, and weather could all affect the number of birds counted. This is true, but not considered important for this survey because the aim is to monitor whether garden bird populations change over the years. (A secondary aim is to increase public interest in birds and the natural environment.) The length of observation period will be the same in subsequent years, and it is assumed that there will be a similar range of times of day, sizes of observation area, garden vegetation characteristics, and weather conditions each year.