For those who love birds, Britain is a marvellous place to live. More than 500 species have been recorded at least once in this small island and roughly half of those are resident and breed here. For such a highly populated nation that is a remarkable total.

Most of the rest are annual migrants, visiting Britain for the summer or just passing through to other breeding grounds. On top of these are the rare visitors who may have taken a wrong turning or overshot their original destination.

A healthy total one might say, but no one should take our bird population for granted, they act as an indicator of nature’s health and wellbeing and need to be checked on as we continually lose habitat to urban encroachment.

Many surveys are carried by official bodies often with birding groups, such as Oxford Ornithological Society, helping to accumulate the figures. Individuals also do their bit — householders with garden feeders attracting a wide variety of species and, of course, individuals who regularly visit an area to track species and numbers.

It is surprising what can occur. I have been visiting Witney Lakes two to three times a month since January and have clocked up 66 species already, in an area of heavy public use and continual nibbling at the site by residential activity.

With the common house sparrow no longer common and many of our farmland birds also in decline, monitoring of our birdlife is paramount if we are not to lose species. Some we have already lost.

So walkers, joggers, cyclists or those who simply put scraps on the lawn, enjoy the birds you see and take a mental note. You’ll notice patterns of species each time and the sudden lack of, say, starlings is an event as important as the discovery of something much rarer.

Try to notify a known birder or organisation how your observations are going, every piece of information helps.

Do not take birds for granted.