MORE than 100 young visitors flocked to Haslemere Museum to take part in a RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch event, at the end of last month.

The wildlife charity appealed to everyone to spend an hour watching the birds in their garden or local park on Saturday or Sunday and report back for its annual survey to help build up a picture of how some of the UK’s favourite birds are faring.

Last year’s results saw sparrows topping the list of most-seen birds, despite long-term declines of more than 50 per cent, followed by starlings and blackbirds.

But the RSPB said it was curious to see how the figures might change this year, following a positive year for some resident British birds including greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits and long-tailed tits.

The museum laid on a host of bird-themed activities in addition to spotting, including arts and crafts sessions and the opportunity to make bird cakes from suet and bird seed to take home. Many visitors brought their own pots to put their bird cake in, to help cut down on single-use plastics.

Visitors were also able to meet the owls from the museum’s handling collections, and discover more about its collection of birds in the galleries.

Education officer Kay Topping, said: “It was a big success. We have a large number of natural history artefacts here at the museum so it is great to be involved in this national event and encourage children to think about and care for their environment.

“It was wonderful to see them enjoying themselves and really getting involved and trying to spot the different species of birds.”

•Families will get the chance to find out about flags from around the world when the museum holds a free, drop-in event during half-term, on Tuesday, February 13 (10.30am-1.30pm).