IS SPRING SLOWLY COMING?

The sunshine might brighten up our days, but step outside and the chill of winter is still hanging around.

It’s almost April and spring is running very late this year. I hope the wildlife around my garden is not too badly affected, although I’m sure nature knows when things are right to breed as they don’t actually use our calendar system!

Most birds seem to have paired up now, but I’m still not sure which pair of tits has won the battle to live in the camera nestbox when spring finally arrives. Both the blue and great tit pair have been seen around it, although I’ve only seen the blue tits actually go in it.

The blossom has emerged in the fruit tree in my garden, but it appears to have stopped growing for now. The bitterly cold easterly wind seems to have made many things stop and wait for the warmer temperatures to arrive – even the daffodils seem to be reluctant to emerge!

I’m still buying fat snacks, peanuts and seeds, when I want to be getting mealworms ready for the arrival of some chicks.

Last year’s very wet spring had a catastrophic effect on the great tit chicks in the camera nestbox, resulting in all eight chicks dying before they were a couple of days old. This year my plan is to make sure I have enough mealworms to supplement the caterpillars both the great tit and blue tit chicks require.

I will make sure that the mealworms are a support of the usual food and don’t become what the birds rely on, but I don’t want to see more dead chicks when there is something I could do to help.

Nature has its own way of rebuilding a species’ numbers following a poor breeding season or harsh winter, but as humans we affect nature so much that I think it’s right that we give a helping hand to the wildlife around us, when we can.

Two things show that this extended winter is having a negative effect on wildlife around my garden. The first is that I’ve never seen the long tailed tits feed in my garden so often; certainly in late March and beyond it’s very rare.

Secondly the great spotted woodpecker is daring to come to the feeder closest to the house and happily feed for a few minutes. In the last five years I’ve probably seen him in my garden the same number of times that he has been in feeding this year.

I hope to see more of these birds going forward; I just don’t want it to be out of desperation for food.

Winter your time is up, spring, it’s your chance to shine!