LONDON, March 31 (UPI) -- An annual national bird survey in the United Kingdom has recorded an encouraging increase in bird populations, researchers report.
The results of the Big Garden Birdwatch run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, in which 10.2 million birds were counted, were published this week, the BBC reported.
More than 600,000 people took part in the annual survey, which asked people to take to their gardens and public open spaces to count the number of birds during a given hour.
The annual survey, conducted annually for 32 years, was held Jan. 29.
Harsh winter conditions in 2009-10 caused significant drops in the number of small birds recorded in last year's Big Garden Birdwatch.
"We were really interested to see how the small birds fared after such a disastrous last year," Big Garden Birdwatch coordinator Sarah Kelly said. "It appears that many may have had a decent breeding season and have been able to bounce back a little."
