THE sight of a red-breasted robin perched in the garden will be rarer in Worcestershire this winter, the British Trust for Ornithology warns.

Latest results from the Constant Efforts Sites Scheme (CES) suggest robins and other resident birds have suffered poor breeding seasons this year.

Volunteers, who are trained to catch and ring birds in more than 90 sites across Britain, compared this year's catches with those from last year and reported robins were raising 15 per cent fewer chicks.

Dunnocks raised 23 per cent fewer chicks while blackbirds fared even worse, raising 33 per cent fewer young. Long-tailed tits bred 37 per cent fewer chicks while blue tits raised 43 per cent less this year than they did in 2000.

Dawn Balmer, spokeswoman for the trust, blamed climate change.

Birds were nesting earlier because of warmer springs, she said, but could then suffer during cold snaps or during downpours when nests became wet.

But despite the gloomy figures, she said there was some good news.

"For some of these species, such as the robin and long-tailed tit, the long-term population is increasing and poor breeding seasons such as this may only have a small impact on the long-term future of the species," she added.

"Robin and long-tailed tit populations are able to recover quickly from occasional poor breeding seasons, but for the dunnock and blackbird, the trend is more worrying.

"Populations of both have been declining in the long-term and as a consequence they are of medium conservation concern."