House sparrow is number one bird in South Yorkshire

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch found that the chirpy brown and grey bird is the most common species sharing our homes in the county.

Hot on its heels are the starling and then the blackbird, with blue tit and wood pigeon in fourth and fifth places respectively.

The other species making it into the top ten for South Yorkshire are the collared dove, great tit, magpie, robin and goldfinch which has seen a big rise in numbers in recent years.

The survey — which is in its 39th year — took place in January and asked people to spend an hour spotting the birds that used their gardens.

Nationally, 450,000 people took part, with around 6,700 in South Yorkshire noting down their feathered friends.

Favourable conditions during the breeding season in 2017 and a mild autumn and early winter are thought to have encouraged more birds into gardens.

But the figures also showed a dip in numbers for blackbirds (down 19 per cent), robins (down 12 per cent) and wrens (down 14 per cent).

RSPB conservation scientist Daniel Hayhow said: “Last summer was a really good year for many breeding birds with warm weather creating great conditions for many smaller birds to raise their young to adulthood.

“The rise in sightings of goldfinches, long-tailed tits and coal tits, along with chaffinches and greenfinches nationally, goes to show that in the absence of cold weather they can survive the winter months in good numbers.

“Looking at the results, it is likely that across the UK this is what people saw in their garden.”