A MILD WINTER?

It’s not exactly been a cold start to winter, although typically the coldest weather is normally reserved for January and February.

This is likely to be having an effect on the birds coming in to the garden, because they have not been in the numbers I would normally expect.

The big peanut feeder in the garden hasn’t needed topping up for a week and thoughts are turning to another reason why birds aren’t in the garden much – the local cats!

Between three houses there are seven cats, but one house feeds stray cats which increases the number to double figures.

The daily sight of at least two cats with small animals in their mouths is very unnerving and it’s not a good sign for the local wildlife population.

Cats eating rodents means that food for owls, foxes and kestrels will be in short supply, so they’ll move on, removing the area of apex predators. This will then increase the non-rodent populations of animals that will not be kept in check by the cats.

It’s really sad that people seem to have little or no respect for the area they live in; if you move to a rural location, make sure you respect it and don’t introduce a domesticated predator en-masse to a small area; it ruins it for wildlife and the people who have moved there because of it.

Cats aren’t welcome in the garden, although stopping them is almost impossible. The fact they think other gardens are free to use as their toilet is quite frankly disgusting and shows their owners have a complete disregard for humans, in particular children who might play in gardens and not understand the dangers of cat poo.

Anyway rant over.

While it’s still mild then many insects are active, including the spiders in the ivy and flies that keep coming into the house. A cold winter helps control such creatures, and many more besides, so here’s hoping that after Christmas the cold weather arrives.

Added to that is the increased risk of snow, which means snowmen, snowball fights and sledging! Bring on the snow.