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!
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Wih the worstening icy weather I'm now feeding morning and mid afternoon. Peanuts in hanging holders and scattered on swept patches; bird pudding in half coconuts, one hanging (that is a favourite of a GS Woodie) and two on the ground; small mixed seed and sunflower seed scattered on the patches; Blobs of terrine cat food are appreciated by blackbirds, jays etc as substitute worms.
Several cheap plastic flowerpot saucers serve as bird baths. When frozen it is easy to flip them over, pour a little hot water on them until the ice blocks fall out, then refill them with warm water. The bigger ones take longer to freeze.
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If it starts to snow durig the day and at dusk I am now placing weighted sheets of EPS over the patches to save brushing off new snow and losing leftover seed. Also think this helps reduces frost penetrating the ground.
One more thing I'm trying. There are two trimmed 8ft tall x 10ft diam. laurel bushes that serve as roosts. I have thrown a folded tarpaulin over juit the top of each bush. These are weighted with bricks at each corner with bricks to stop them being blown away. This I hope will provide dryer, slightly warmer roosts for small birds.
Perhaps over the top, but it does help to keep my old arthritic bones active ad is better then snowballing.