Related
Recommended
Judith Rogers


The Birdy Bit

January and February are the most difficult time of year for many birds. The cold weather not only uses up valuable energy in staying warm, but the food required to replenish those reserves has gradually been depleted over the first half of the winter, leaving a ‘hungry gap’ before the spring brings an abundance of caterpillars and insects.  Disturbance to birds, especially of waders and wildfowl on high tide roosts at this time of year can seriously deplete fat reserves and cause increased mortality. 

Of course, garden birds too can benefit from help over the winter.  Incredibly, a robin will devour as much as 14 feet of earthworms each day, at an average of two per hour.  However, finding worms and other insects becomes a challenge for all garden birds as the weather turns colder and the ground becomes hard and impenetrable. Mammals are better able to store fat for extreme conditions, but birds will have to eat enough each day to make it through a cold night.  Come daybreak, their energy supply is at its lowest and birds immediately have to start filling up again to survive.
 
For many garden birds though, an occasional harsh winter alone will not affect numbers in the long term.  If winter mortality is high, the fewer birds that do begin breeding in the spring will have less competition for nest sites, territories and food and will therefore tend to produce more youngsters, increasing the population once more.
 
To find out more about feeding the birds in your garden this winter, visit www.rspb.org.uk/advice

Dave Blackledge
For more information about Campfield Marsh Reserve and the regularly updated blog, or 200 others throughout the UK visit www.rspb.org.uk/campfieldmarsh

 

The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Together with our partners, we protect threatened birds and wildlife so our towns, coast and countryside will teem with life once again. We play a leading role in BirdLife International, a worldwide partnership of nature conservation organisations.