A little birdhouse in my soul...

Normally I have a big project over the Easter weekend, but this year with a baby and an election, I have only really managed to repair and reposition our birdbox which had been battered by the weather (or a trespassing tree climber). I've never been that sure how much birdboxes help given the number of perfectly decent trees around, but we'll see if anyone takes up the offer.

I was devastated to hear that long tailed tits had a hard winter and their numbers are down - they're my all-time favourite bird and bring joy to my heart with their cheeky antics. So I was delighted when four flitted through the garden on Saturday. I like to think that our feeders gave them the edge over the crushing winter we had this year*.

So apart from that, I've redosed our lawn with organic food, but I haven't managed to get a full crop of compost for mulching having emptied all the heaps/containers last year. I may turn the "hedge heap" but I'm not expecting much quality compost there.

*btw not only was Jan the warmest globally on the satellite record, but Feb was second warmest on record. We just got someone else's weather.

Don't forget the birds...

If you're in this strange snow-bound world that we call the UK, don't forget our little feathered friends. Fresh water, fatty foods, seeds etc etc will all help them through. Don't bother with bread and you're better losing the plastic nets that peanuts and fatballs come in - they can damage birds' feet.

The snow seems to have brought a few new visitors to our garden. We had a woodpecker at the nuts yesterday and as I type there are three redwings up in a tree, eating snow. I've never seen either in the garden in the ten years we've lived here.

One thing I have noticed about the snow is a resurgence in walking. People are wrapping up and trudging their way around the city - maybe the habits will stick for a while.

Birdlife: my favs

The last couple of years we've been getting a small flock of long tailed tits (above) in the garden. I love them - they're cute, cheeky and agile and they look like they've got a real gang-of-mates thing going on. But this year they've been usurped in my affections by a pair of nuthatches (below). They're cute too, with added colour and their habit of running straight down tree trunks towards the feeders is just delightful.



The Observer ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the growing popularity of birdwatching. I'm not surprised - watching the activity around the feeders is a lovely, innocent pleasure that makes my heart sing. A reminder that eco-living can be local as well as global.

Images are from Wikipedia and used under Creative Commons licence.

Flowers all year around!

Just watching the brilliant Springwatch on the Beeb. Chris Packham (a worthy successor to Bill Oddy) is explaining that to support birdlife at this time of year (nesting), you need plenty of nectar to attract insects - the young birds need the protein to survive.

BTW - leaving some scruffy corners in your garden will help too.

It shouldn't happen to a green part 2

The other day I was working/facebooking diligently at my desk when I heard the cat flap go twice followed by a mewling sound the cat only makes when she's caught something. Now Pip lays waste to the local rat and mouse population, but they are plentiful around here so we turn a blind eye to it, but as I went upstairs to see what she had, I heard a flutter followed by a pounce. My heart sank. I got to the living room, but was confused as she appeared to be staring at a bright blue ball with a rod sticking out of it. When I realised it was a kingfisher, my heart went down even further. It was motionless and its neck was twisted at an odd angle with its beak (the rod) vertical.

I scooped it up and it looked at me without moving much. I now had a real dilemma. If Pip leaves a mouse disabled, I have no qualms about bopping it on the head to avoid further suffering. But I had a beautiful and highly protected species in my hands, which may or may not be illegal in itself, and I was now probably going to have to stave its head in*. I took it out and down the lane by the river. I found a stone and set the bird down on it to assess its condition and prepare myself for the grim task ahead.

You will never know the relief as it rose into the air with a single flick of its wings and soared down along the river as if nothing had ever happened.

* I have since checked out the legislation and, for the record, it is not illegal to kill a protected species which is injured and unlikely to recover, unless you unlawfully caused the injury. I guessed this was the case at the time, but did not have time to google it...

Birds Again: Sparras

OK, so I'm posting a lot about birds at the minute...

Anyway, when we moved into our house eight years ago there were plenty of sparrows, now they are scarce. According to the Guardian, this decline is because gardens are too tidy to support enough insects. As a result, baby sparrows starve in the nest in their first four days. All my bird seed won't help either - they need those insects.

So, spare a thought for those poor little chicks and don't tidy your garden this winter. And, obviously, lay off the pesticide.

Birdfeed

Just to follow up on my post about bird feeding - we had been giving them B&Q birdseed and they (the birds) didn't seem interested, then switched to Bill Oddie's recommended seed from Haith's and they've gone crazy for it. You can see the difference in the mix - less grain, more and different types of seeds.

We've had less success with squirrel protection - the Sunday Telegraph recommended cayenne pepper. We didn't have any but tried a mixture of paprika and chilli powder, but the grey git took no notice and had another go at mangling my feeder. Perhaps I should call my friend Rupert...

Feed the Birds

While much of this blog is about tackling big issues like global warming and unsustainable use of resources, it is important and satisfying to consider your very local environment as well. And at this time of the year, one of the best contributions you can make is to feed the birds. This is a bit more complicated than I first expected, but I've taken these tips from the RSPB website:

1. Don't use cheap plastic mesh bags of nuts - they damage birds' feet.

2. During the breeding season don't put out whole peanuts unless they are in wire mesh holders - baby birds can choke on the large nuts.

3. There are different qualities of birdseed - the better mixtures contain plenty of flaked maize, sunflower seeds, and peanut granules. Wheat and barley grains are often included in seed mixtures, but they are really only suitable for pigeons, doves and pheasants. Avoid seed mixtures that have split peas, beans, dried rice or lentils as again only the large species can eat them dry.

We've two seed feeders and one mesh nut holder (pictured). This was raided by a squirrel, which we found amusing until we found it had rolled up the wire on the far side and spilt the lot. I've now nailed it down.

The really lovely thing about this is how much our 21 month old son loves watching the birds, in fact when we were on holiday, he loved finding them in a bird book - OK so he could only get the Robin, but you gotta start somewhere.