LANCASHIRE householders are being urged to join a national drive by discovering which birds are visiting the county’s gardens.

They have been asked to spend an hour watching the birds in their garden this weekend to help provide the RSPB with its annual snapshot of the UK’s garden birds.

The organisation wants Lancashire residents to join more than half-a-million people nationwide in the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ this weekend (January 27 to 29).

Now in its 39th year, it is a chance for people of all ages to count the number of birds that visit their garden.

Last year house sparrow was top of the list in the county, along with some other familiar species like robin, blackbird and starling in the top 10.

This year the RSPB is curious to see how these figures will change following a positive year for many resident British birds, such as greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits.

Daniel Hayhow, RSPB Conservation Scientist, said: “At this time of the year your garden has the potential to be a vital source of food and shelter for the garden birds we all know and love.”