Whoosh, in it came. Fast and furious. Not an owl, not a peregrine falcon. Not even a bird. I'm talking about this year.
2010 has been frantic so far, and it's only just begun.
The snow and ice locked away food for birds and other wildlife. London was blanketed so birds have had to venture further afield to find tucker. Our sparrows, finches and tits need huge amounts of food to maintain energy levels and survive the freezing nights. They need to eat roughly 40% of their own bodyweight just to keep going, let along start mating.
This need for food has brought redwings, wagtails, nuthatches and others in to the Capital. It's created a lot of talk because these are birds not normally seen in London's gardens, certainly not in the large numbers people have reported. One person reported a flock of 15 redwings stripping her west London crab apple tree in a morning.
This is a great time of year for seeing garden birds, which is why we run our Big Schools' and Big Garden Birdwatches in January. Putting out fresh food for birds on clean feeding tables away from shrubs that may conceal predators will reap rewards as all birds are looking for extra snacks. It's not just gardens that are seeing weather induced changes. Our House Sparrow Parks Project has sown and is monitoring trial plots of grass and seed-rich plots. One of these plots, in Kensington Gardens, has just recorded a visit by four sparrows. These birds have been absent from the Park for several years!
Climate change is going to bring more extremes of weather. We'll have to adapt and that means investment in infrastructure. Development is good; as long as it's thought through. That's why we've launched Letter to the Future. It calls for all future investment to put our environment at its heart. This will give Government spending added value. New buildings can have green areas to reduce air temperatures, Shrubs, trees and grassy lawns help manage the danger of flash flooding from heavy downpours. Nesting spaces for swifts can be designed in to new buildings and they become a sort of natural pest control by feeding on flying insects. Tax incentives could encourage green energy and transport schemes. There's so much that wise spending can do to improve our environment. Sign our Letter to help convince politicians of the sense of this approach.