Westbury-on-Trym people are invited to take part in an important birdwatch study later this month.

The Big Garden Birdwatch is being run by the RSPB. All you need is a pen and some paper or a printout of the RSPB's handy bird ID sheet, which you can get by clicking here, and an hour to spend watching the birds in your garden on either Saturday January, 29, or Sunday, January 30.

You simply record the highest number of each bird species seen in your garden, or local park (not flying over) at any one time, and tell the RSPB what you saw.

If you're not too sure what bird you've seen, try the charity's easy-to-use bird identifier.

If you are interested in finding about more about the birds and other wildife in the Westbury-on-Trym area, we are lucky to have Old Sneed Park Nature Reserve, Badock's Wood and Blaise Castle Estate on our doorstep.

Old Sneed Park Nature Reserve is a public open space owned by Bristol City Council. The Friends who run it are holding their next working party on Saturday, January 22 so you can go along and find out more.

Parts of Badock's Wood, between Henleaze and Southmead, are 400 years old. The Friends of Badock’s Wood and Bristol Parks work closely together to protect, maintain and conserve the wood.

A new wildflower meadow will be sown there in the spring with help from pupils at Badock’s Wood School, and new trees were planted last month.  The wood has won lottery funding for its Northern Gateway Project, a new entrance to the 10-hectare nature reserve, which will be officially declared open during a community event on April 23.

Meanwhile Blaise Castle Estate is spread over 640 acres and has won a Green Flag Award, a recognition and reward for being one of the best green spaces in the country.