With the garden under 4 inches of snow (and then ice) this weekend, and the coldest daytime temperatures I've recorded in 7 years here, all wildlife gardening thoughts turned to that of some more supplementary food and ice-free water for the birds.
Our went mealworms, and fatballs (including some with 'buggy bits' in!), and peanuts, and nyger seed. Oh, and some left-over flapjacks.And down came the Starlings in force, plus a Song Thrush, a Dunnock, Great and Blue Tits, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Houses Sparrows, Blackbirds, a Robin, Collared Doves and Wood Pigeons. The numbers of birds in my garden shot up massively.
I know this for certain, for as well as religiously recording the temperatures (and the rainfall), I've kept numerical tabs on my garden birds each week since April 2001. I can't recommend it enough. The difference this weekend was clear to see, but what happens with recording in the long-run is that whereas I regularly talk to people who THINK that their bird numbers have gone up (or down) over many years, I KNOW for certain.
What's interesting is whereas I might think that, for example, my House Sparrows are holding their own, or that my Greenfinches are on the increase, I can turn to the statistics and find out for certain, and it often turns out to be different than my mind imagined. Whether recording weather or bird numbers, it removes all that 'guesswork' disguised as fact that one is otherwise tempted to. What I do with the birds is record the highest number of each species seen, just as many of you will do in the RSPB Big Garden BirdWatch recording hour each January, but I do on a weekly basis (as well as taking part in Big Garden BirdWatch, of course!)
What the figures show for my garden are Goldfinches and House Sparrows on the long-term slide, Greenfinches and Blue Tits holding steady, and Collared Doves and Chaffinches on the rise. And then comes the creative bit - trying to do something about it!
Are you taking advantage of the RSPB’s free wildlife gardening advice? Check out RSPB Homes for Wildlife here.
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Hi Adrian,
With the weather geting colder, I'm now feeding twice a day, morning and mid afternoon. Peanuts in the hanging hopper, some scatterd on the cleared patches with a mix of small seed and sunflower seed. Also bird pudding in hanging coconut shells and two half shells on the ground. I find blackbirds like blobs of terrine cat food a a substitute for worms.
Several cheap plastic flower pot saucers serve as bird baths. When the water is frozen solid, it is easy to flip them over, pour on a little hot water until they expand and the ice block drops out. Then of course refill them with by now warm water.
At dusk I place weighted sheets of expanded polystyrene over the clear patches to keep the patchse clear of fresh snow and stop the frost penetrating deeper into the ground.
One more thing I'm trying. I have two trimmed, 8ft tall, 10ft diam laurel bushes where I think some birds roost. I've thrown a small, folded tarpaulin over just the top of each laurel, weighed down at the corners with bricks. This I'm hoping will provide a dryer, warmer roost for small birds.
At least all this keeps my old arthritic bones active! <|;-))DB