It’s almost time for you to take part in the world’s largest wildlife survey…the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. It is a great excuse to watch your garden birds whilst helping to collect incredibly helpful information on how our birds are doing.
For nearly 40 years, we've been asking you to count the birds in your garden – and you've been brilliant at it. With over half a million people now regularly taking part, Big Garden Birdwatch allows us to monitor trends and helps us understand how birds are doing.
We’re passionate about connecting children with nature and feeding and watching garden birds is a great way to introduce youngsters to our wonderful wildlife. So this weekend we’re inviting families to join them this weekend Saturday 20 & Sunday 21 January for our ‘big build up’ event.
You can come along for the morning (10.30 am – 12 noon) or afternoon (1.30 pm – 3pm) session and make bird feeders to take home for your garden and hone your bird spotting skills with some great games and activities.
Mixing up some tasty treats for pine cone bird feeders. (David Tipling - rspb-images.com)
Don’t forget to wrap up warm as we’ll be going on a short walk on the nature reserve where we’ll play bird bingo, try out some worm charming and find out what tasty treats our birds like to eat. Whilst you’re here you can pick up your Big Garden Birdwatch spotter’s guide.
This week, local Riverford Horsham business owner, Liz Sowden, donated a crate of sunflowers to the reserve, where they will be lovingly made into bird feeders by children at this weekend’s event.
Riverford Organic Farms owner, Guy Watson, decided to plant thousands of sunflower seeds on his Vendéen French farm last summer, in the hope of making his own organic sunflower oil.
A few months later and the farm became a spectacle, with 2 hectares of glowing yellow fields, sunshine bouncing off each of the 100,000 sunflower heads, and the subtle humming sound of thousands of bees buzzing in and out of the flowers. Whilst taking in the beauty of the fields and watching the wildlife thrive off the sunflowers, Guy had a different idea for what to do with the crop.
Sunflower by Ben Andrews (rspb-images.com)
“Watching the Vendéen bird population feasting on my bowing sunflower heads and realising it was barely worth harvesting our measly two hectares for oil, I had the idea that people might like to use them as bird feeders.” Said Guy.
We’re delighted to have received these organic sunflowers from Riverford. The additional seeds at this time of year, when food is hard to come by, can be a lifesaver for many birds. Finches, house sparrows, blue tits and great tits are all likely visitors to the sunflowers and even better that the children can use them to make bird feeders ready for the big weekend!
Great tit enjoying a snack including sunflower seeds (Chris Gomersall - rspb-images.com)
Sunflowers also play an important part in the rotation of crops on Riverford’s farm, and are well suited for the heavy clay soil. They are harvested at the perfect time for grass and clover to be sown again in the autumn. You can find out more about the Riverford forms at www.riverford.co.uk.
There’s no need to book for the event – just come along and join in. You can find the full details, times and costs here http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/events-dates-and-inspiration/events/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-354436
Just in case you’ve not taken part in our Big Garden Birdwatch before here’s a quick guide to what you need to do:
If you haven't got a garden that's no problem. Just pop down to your local park or green space and join in there.