Numerous garden centres across the UK are extending invites to their customers to join them in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch on Saturday 28 to Sunday 29 January. Many of the centres will have voluntary staff from the RSPB on hand to provide observation forms as well as advice on what to look out for. The watch lasts an hour. Last year, house sparrows were the most frequently counted.

However, this year’s results will be hard to predict. The 2011 results – which had a record number of 609,177 participants recording 10,262,501 birds – provided much-needed information on how smaller bird species were recouping after the harsh winter of winter of 2009/10. This winter, wild birds have been eating noticeably less due to the milder weather, making higher sightings less frequent.

If the forecasts are to be believed, colder weather is on its way, however, which could signal a boost for sales of food and feeders. In addition, upcoming National Nest Box Week provides further chance for in-store promotion of wild bird care, as well as events such as nest box building, or talks by experts.

What have you noticed in your store in terms of wild birdcare sales? And what are you doing to tie in sales with national wild bird events? Contact us at: katherine.watt@tgcmc.co.uk