THE tiny long-tailed tit has flown into Surrey’s Big Garden Birdwatch top 10, after the average number seen visiting the county’s gardens increased 54 per cent compared with last year.

The highly sociable species is likely to have benefited from the mild months leading up to January’s RSPB-organised Birdwatch, making an appearance in more than a quarter of Surrey’s surveyed gardens.

RSPB experts are linking the increase in sightings of long-tailed tits, as well as other smaller gardens birds such as goldfinch and great tit, to the mild weather in the months leading up to the 2016 Birdwatch.

Small, insect-eating birds such as long-tailed tits are particularly susceptible to the cold as the food they rely on is hard to come by in frosts and snow, so milder conditions are likely to have contributed to a higher survival rate.

Dr Daniel Hayhow, RSPB conservation scientist, said: “The weather can have varied effects on different groups of birds in terms of behaviour and habitats used.

“The increase in long-tailed tit sightings, along with other smaller garden birds, just goes to show that in the absence of very cold weather these species can survive the winter months in much greater numbers.”

During periods of colder temperatures birds struggle to find food in the wider countryside so become more reliant on garden feeders. Long-tailed tits, and other smaller birds, have adapted to feeding on seeds and peanuts at bird tables or from hanging feeders.

In 2010, long-tailed tits were in 11th place in the league table of Surrey’s most common garden birds, but this is the first year since then that they’ve broken into the top 10.

Dr Hayhow added: “The increase in numbers of sightings of these smaller garden birds highlights the importance of a well-stocked bird feeder for some species.

“Long-tailed tits only started using garden feeders in recent years, and now more people are spotting them in their gardens as this behaviour develops.”

Despite this boost in numbers many other of Surrey’s garden favourites are struggling. Sightings of well known species such as blackbirds and starlings have experienced another drop during the Big Garden Birdwatch this year.

This decline continues a trend which has seen the number of both species visiting gardens decline by 27 and 13 per cent respectively since 2010.

Ben Andrew, RSPB wildlife advisor, added: “A lot of our favourite garden birds are struggling and are in desperate need of help. Gardens or outdoor spaces are an invaluable resource for many species. They can provide a safe habitat with food and water; having a significant effect on their populations.”

The same trends have been spotted in the parallel event, Big Schools’ Birdwatch, which continued to break records with more schools and children taking part than ever before.

The UK-wide survey of birds in schools had close to 100,000 school children spending an hour in nature counting birds. Blackbirds remained the most common playground visitor for the eighth year in a row. The top three was rounded off by black-headed gulls and starlings.

Big Garden Birdwatch and Big Schools’ Birdwatch are a part of the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign, aimed at tackling the housing crisis facing the UK’s threatened wildlife.

The charity is asking people to provide a place for wildlife in their gardens or outdoor space – whether it’s putting up a nest box for birds, creating a pond for frogs or building a home for hedgehogs.