STEPHEN LEWIS joins thousands of birdwatchers across the country for this weekend's great garden bird survey...

HERE in Yorkshire we're luckier than most. With the great sweep of the Moors and the Dales on our doorstep, not to mention the peaceful rural beauty of Ryedale and the Vale of York, a bit of wild England is never too far away.

In York, with its pattern of ancient streets and queues of traffic, you may be forgiven for thinking nature is that little bit further away.

Get up early enough, as dawn is breaking, and you will soon realise how wrong you are. Wild nature is all around, in the shape of the myriad songbirds whose trilling, fluting and warbling songs are combining to welcome the new day.

"Wildlife on your doorstep," Chris Lloyd calls them - and if you look hard enough, you would probably be surprised at the variety and range of birds to be found even in the heart of the city.

"My wife works in Stonegate," he says. "There's a little back yard behind the silversmith and she's seen a wren, blue tits, robins, pied wagtails.

"We had somebody a few nights ago who lives off Lord Mayor's Walk. They have a little yard with a couple of bushes, and they were getting goldfinches. There have even been recent reports of a flock of pied wagtails in Parliament Street, roosting and chattering away."

Nevertheless, common as many of our favourite songbirds still are, there has over the past two decades or so been a real and worrying decline in some of the most familiar.

According to the RSPB, the numbers of two of our four commonest birds - the starling and the house sparrow - have fallen dramatically.

Which is why the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch taking place throughout this weekend is so important. Thousands of people up and down the country will be making a note of the birds they see in their gardens and local parks, and feeding the information back to the RSPB where it will provide a valuable 'map' of garden bird populations that can be compared with previous years to spot trends.

The annual survey has been running since 1979 - and thanks to its findings, the RSPB was able to spot that common birds such as the sparrow and starling are declining in numbers.

There are many reasons for that, says Chris, who is leader of the RSPB York local group. Cats and sparrowhawks are traditional enemies of birds, and building developments in cities such as York have left fewer decent-sized gar--dens and less green space.

"All sorts of things," says Chris. "I live in Poppleton and can remember a time when there were a lot of green areas in the village. Now they have all been built on."

While such developments leave fewer habitats for birds they can also affect their ability to move around and hence the viability of populations.

A length of hedgerow is like a 'highway' for many birds, Chris says. "They tend to fly near hedgerows because they feel safe, they've got some cover. If someone takes out a hedge, they have a dangerous area to cross, and that can affect where a bird will travel to and from."

By monitoring the changing population levels of common song birds, the Big Garden Birdwatch helps conservationists work out strategies to try to protect species that are in decline.

You don't have to be an expert to take part - a love of birds and a willingness to spend one hour this weekend making a note of the birds you see in your garden is enough.

Last year more than a quarter of a million people took part - and 4,000 gardens were watched in North Yorkshire alone.

A year ago, despite their relative decline in numbers, the starling and house sparrow were still the commonest song birds in the county.

"I am hoping that lots of people in York and North Yorkshire will support the 2003 survey and help us find out whether the situation has changed," says Chris.

It is still not too late to take part. Simply log on to the Birdwatch page of the RSPBs website - www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch - to find an electronic Birdwatch survey form. Then choose a convenient hour some time over the weekend to sit down and record the birds you have in your garden, fill in the form, and send it back.

To find out more about the RSPB York group, contact Chris Lloyd on 01904 794865.

Updated: 09:32 Saturday, January 25, 2003