The scale of this waxwing winter will be revealed this weekend when people are encouraged to spend an hour recording the birds they see in their gardens, balconies, parks and school grounds.

The spectacular migratory, mohican-sporting birds have been spotted across Britain during the colder weather and will be recorded alongside more familiar sparrows, blackbirds and robins in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.

“Waxwings are just such a brilliant bird and they always look like punk rockers in the trees,” said Beccy Speight, the chief executive at the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). “People have loved seeing them this winter but I haven’t seen any yet so I’m keeping my eye out for them.”

Data from the long-running garden birdwatch has traced the waxing and waning of bird species in gardens, parks and urban areas, with 38 million fewer birds in our skies than almost half a century ago.