A slump in the number of baby thrushes in the region’s gardens has been reported by the RSPB.

The charity said that in West Yorkshire sightings of young blackbirds had dropped by 21 per cent, song thrushes by 24 per cent and robins by 35 per cent. All are members of the thrush family.

The figures are among the findings of the RSPB’s annual Make Your Nature Count survey, carried out in the first week of June.

Bradford people were among more than 78,000 nationally who took part in the initiative, logging birds and other wildlife species spotted in their gardens.

The drop in baby thrush numbers has been blamed on wet and cold weather early in the breeding season.

Dr Daniel Hayhow, of the RSPB, said: “It’s really useful as a snapshot of how UK wildlife fared this summer and a number of species may have had a tough time.”