The south west’s gardens are a hotbed of wildlife, according to participants in the RSPB’s summer wildlife survey.

In June some 62,000 people across the country joined in Make Your Nature Count, the first RSPB survey that observes wildlife other than birds.

On average, 40 per cent of urbanite participants claimed to regularly see foxes in their gardens, compared with just 23 per cent living in rural locations – that figure was even higher for Bournemouth.

“Fifty-five per cent of gardens that took part in the survey in Bournemouth had foxes regularly,” says the RSPB’s Tony Whitehead. “They are doing well in urban areas; they’re succeeding in the city.”

The survey also found that badgers and hedgehogs are being spotted in urban gardens, though not as much as the grey squirrel, which was regularly observed in half of Britain’s gardens.

In contrast, just 0.92 per cent of participants regularly saw its endangered cousin, the red squirrel.

As far as birds are concerned, the survey suggests that the average UK garden attracts 10 different species, with the blackbird being the most common visitor – seen in 94 per cent of gardens.

Other frequent fliers were the house sparrow, blue tit, robin, collared dove, great tit, starling, magpie and dunnock.

Sadly, the lack of song thrush sightings nationally has given weight to evidence that suggests the population has declined by 50 per cent since the seventies.

That said, Bournemouth did buck the trend with more song thrush sightings here than in the average British garden. “I would suggest that in the south west they are not doing too badly,” says Tony, who believes a nationwide recovery of the species is slowly underway.

“The same with the house sparrow – there is a big decline of house sparrows in the south east but not so much in the south west. There’s something to their liking here and that’s reflected in the figures.”

The RSPB were encouraged that swifts were seen in one in five gardens – a sign that these summer visitors are likely to be breeding nearby – and that 12 per cent of participants saw house martins and seven per cent saw swallows.

“We’ve been surprised at the diversity of wildlife that the region's gardens support,” says Tony.

Have you had an interesting visitor in your garden? If so email a photo to newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk