Keep the birds coming to your garden!

Well, the Big Garden Birdwatch is over, thanks to everyone who took part (remember you still have until Sunday 16th February to submit your results!), and with over 100,000 people registering to take part it looks like it may have been the biggest yet, so we await the results with interest.

While some parts of the UK seem to have had reasonable weather for the Big Garden Birdwatch weekend, Dove Stone was extremely wet, wild and generally wintery, but that didn't stop some brave souls coming to pick up forms and one family actually stayed to do the birdwatch at Binn Green despite the weather. Hopefully many more (like me!) did it from the warmth and comfort of home.

Binn Green feeding area has been alive with a whole range of woodland birds this winter, and is a great place to get close up views of great spotted woodpeckers, siskins, chaffinches, great, blue & coal tits, greenfinches, goldfinches, tree creepers, nutchatches, robins, wrens, blackbirds and sometimes beautiful orange bramblings as well as the usual pheasants and wood pigeons.

In previous years it has also been a good spot to catch glimpses of crossbills who feed in the larches in the winter, this year also watch out for the two-barred variety which have been seen on the Yorkshire side of the Peak District, though not at Dove Stone so far! 5 stars to anyone lucky enough to see one - and if you do please let us know!

The reason we get so many birds coming to Binn Green is at least partly because we are feeding them daily (with the help of some amazing local volunteers) and will carry on supplementing their natural diet throughout the winter. If you want to attract wild birds to your garden and help get them into tip top condition for spring there is a lot of useful information on the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/.

As a quick starter for 10 you won't go wrong with the following foods: good quality seed mixes (with lots of sunflower seeds, flaked maize and peanut granules); millet; nyjer seeds, sunflower hearts and good quality peanuts (poor quality ones can contain toxins). In the colder weather its also fine to put out mild grated cheddar cheese, cooked unsalted rice and fat balls.

Fat balls are easy to make using lard, wholemeal flour and seeds - you can also add nuts, dried fruit, meal worms and cheese. It can be a bit messy but is fun, quite satisfying and leaves hands very soft! Nice activity to do with children over half term!

Foods to avoid include cheap seed mixes with lots of barley, wheat grains, split peas or lentils (which are less good for smaller birds) or with odd pink and green lumps (which are dog biscuits and shouldn't be eaten dry!). Fat from cooking and margarines are also not good for birds as the fat is too soft which can damage feathers, can be salty and will quickly breed bacteria. Porridge (too sticky), anything salty, mouldy or stale should also be left off the bird table!

An important addition in the winter is a bowl of water to drink and wash in, but not milk as birds cannot digest it.

Planting berry-bearing trees and shrubs like cherry, hawthorn, rowan, elder and holly will attract thrushes and blackbirds amongst others, as they rely on the berries as a food source in winter. Winter is also a great time to plant shrubs like dog rose, berberis, cotoneaster and honeysuckle in your own garden - and they don't just help birds - insects and mammals like hedgehogs will also feed from them.

So happy planting, happy feeding & hopefully happy watching!