If you’re interested in bird-watching and recording your sightings, the RSPB runs many different surveys that you can contribute to.

The new Homes for Wildlife activity will give you tailor-made tips to make your garden more wildlife-friendly. You can do as little or as much as you like from putting up a nesting box to digging a pond.

To take part in the Wildsquare project your family or school chooses an area one kilometre square that may include your garden, local park or a nature reserve. Once you’ve registered your area, you can carry out wildlife surveys and download indoor and outdoor activity sheets.

The number of swifts has declined dramatically over the last 10 years and they are now of conservation concern. You can help the RSPB to protect swift populations in the future by reporting where you see swifts speeding and screaming and where you see them swooping into nest sites.

In fact the British Trust for Ornithology, the RSPB and Bird Watch Ireland have come together to collect information on all bird spotted in Britain and Ireland through their BirdTrack project. And the Bird Conservation Targeting Project is collecting records of sightings of around 30 different species to help develop conservation measures for these birds.

See the RSPB website for a full list of all the surveys they run.