The most common birds in Scottish gardens - chaffinches, house sparrows and starlings, - all suffered a drop in numbers this winter according to the Big Garden Birdwatch, organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

A record number of people in Scotland, more than 30,000, took part in the 30th survey this January, but recorded a drop in the average number of birds per garden in each of the top three species.

Chaffinch numbers were down from 5.43 in 2008 to 4.84 this year, sparrows declined from 5.03 to 4.65 and starlings from 4.29 to 3.41.

There was a better result for the next most numerous species: blackbirds increased from an average per garden of 2.83 to 2.9 and blue tits from 2.63 to 2.78.

The surprise new entrant to the top 10 was the coal tit, ranked at number six after coming in 13th in 2008, with numbers increasing from 1.03 to 1.67.

Davey Fitch of RSPB Scotland attributed the decline in some species to the cold weather, but added that there had been reports of larger than usual numbers of migratory birds such as waxwings on their way south from Scandinavia.

"That shows how important it is for people to feed garden birds in winter.

"One reason for the jump in coal tit numbers may have been their habit of storing food to see them through hard weather - and visiting garden feeders to top up their store."

Although there has been an overall decline in sparrow numbers throughout the UK, resulting in them being placed on the endangered species list, according to Mr Fitch, that has been less marked in Scotland, where they remained at number two.

The other species in the top 10 in Scotland are great tit, robin, greenfinch and dunnock, each averaging just over one per garden.