Well Poppy’s first Big garden Birdwatch was a fun weekend, my little amateur bird watcher had a flurry of visitors. Although like most wildlife she sees now they were greeted with excitable woofs.
Too ensure we got the most out of our weekend, we stepped up our offerings for the local birds. Normally we simply share our scraps on the bird table and the grass for ground feeders such as thrushes. But this weekend we ensured that all possible feeding stations were topped up with food, including a bird feeder with an apple skewered on it hanging from our tree and seeds and nuts joining our scraps on the table and grass. Other great options we are going to invest in are steel mesh nut feeders, which in the coming weeks will be hung around our garden. We’ve opted for these since using mesh bags, as they can be extremely hazardous to birds and can cause major injury.
Ben Hall (rspb-images.com)
With all the prep done on, sitting with Poppy on my knee we watched out the window waiting for our first visitors. With in minutes two blackbirds descended from the trees and began hopping around the lawn, picking food as they went. They were shortly joined by a lonesome robin on the lawn, which a great reaction from Poppy. As the day went on we checked back regularly and were greeted by, blue tits, goldfinches and dunnocks.
Peter Kennedy (rspb-images.com)
Over the course of the weekend, we topped up the snacks as they were eaten up by the hungry birds. The visitors kept coming all weekend, with many of the same species but on Sunday afternoon were treated to a pair of wood pigeons.
What a great weekend we had, Poppy got to see a lot of birds and by ensuring the garden was well stocked, we kept up our ambition to give nature a home.
In the next weeks, I’m going take the next step in teaching Poppy about nature with a visit to Fairburn Ings. She’ll be in her element with the amazing feeding stations around the reserve, seeing new birds and continuing her introduction to nature.