Every year the Royal Society for the Protection for Birds asks people to count the birds they see in their garden for one hour. This tells them how well or badly the different types of birds are doing nationwide.
Birds seen in one small East Croydon garden include sparrows, pigeons, blue tits, blackbirds, robins, wood pigeons, magpies, crows, starlings, pied wagtails, wrens, blue jays, long-tailed tits, a woodpecker and even a sparrow hawk
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was founded in Croydon. They held their first ever meeting in a house on Moreland Road, on the site of the forthcoming Ark Blake School.