Havering gardens have seen a baby bird boom this summer, with young Blackbirds our favourite feathered friends.

The number of baby birds in our gardens has flown sky-high on last year, according to Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) figures released this week.

Baby blackbirds were our most popular visitor, spotted in 43 per-cent of gardens compared to 37 per-cent last summer.

The number of young nesting house martins increased eight-fold, up from 1 per-cent to 8 per-cent.

Robins and song thrushes were also up on last year, as reported in the Make Your Nature Count survey.

The survey ran from June 4 to 12 and asked residents to record bird sightings in their backyards. More than 50,000 people across the country took part.

Richard Bashford, RSPB Make Your Nature Count organiser, said: “It’s great to know that blackbird, robin and song thrush chicks are back up from last June, and it would suggest that the weather conditions were just right in that month. Although we suspect that they may have struggled in the drier weather earlier in the spring.

“But of course there are no guarantees that the same will happen next year. Song thrushes in particular have suffered massive declines in the past and although they seem to be recovering, they have a long way to go before they’re back to where they used to be.”