The blue tit has leapt into third place in this weekend’s annual bird count, according to preliminary results from bird protection society Vogelbescherming.

Top of the list of most common garden bird is the house sparrow, followed by the coal tit. The chaffinch, which was in third place has tumbled down to seventh place. This is probably due to the mild winter, which means there is still plenty for the finches to eat in woods and the countryside, Vogelbescherming said.

In total, a record 90,000 people took part in the garden bird count, 13,000 more than last year.

The top 10, with last year’s placement in brackets

1 House sparrow (1)
2 Coal tit (2)
3 Blue tit (5)
4 Jackdaw (6)
5 Blackbird (4)
6 Chaffinch (3)
7 Turtle dove (7)
8 Wood pigeon (8)
9 Robin (9)
10 Magpie (10)