TIME TO HELP OUR WILDLIFE

With the prospect of some proper winter weather on the horizon, it’s time to encourage everyone to spare a thought for our wildlife.

It may be the festive time of the year when people get excited about decorations, presents and food, but for wildlife it’s a time when the only thing they have on their mind is survival.

In milder conditions natural food is normally available for all, but during the harsh, cold, frosty and snowy weather, a battle commences between getting enough food to survive the night and not.

A simple peanut or seed feeder filled with the relevant food stuff can provide many of the birds we see around the garden in the spring and summer, with enough to help survive during the freezing conditions.

The larger birds can then feed on scraps that fall from the feeders, while it also provides birds of prey with the opportunity to keep up the natural balance of life. For smaller birds the less distance they travel between feeds helps to them to keep up energy levels to see them through the long and cold nights.

If just half of our houses had one feeder then the distance little birds would travel would become much less and increase survival chances.

I have three of four feeders in my garden, which seem to mainly attract tree sparrows, robins, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, dunnocks and house sparrows.

In colder conditions chaffinches, long tailed tits, greenfinches, goldfinches and wrens are also attracted to them.

With the jays now becoming common in and around my garden, they’ve joined the magpies and the odd carrion crow in feasting on the offerings I provide. I don’t encourage the bigger birds, but as my garden is surrounding by countryside, it’s inevitable.

There are also plenty of voles and field mice about, although I’ve only ever seen one around my garden.

A buzzard once landed in the garden and there have also been visits by great spotted woodpeckers, but I’ve not seen one of those for a while. I wonder if the dead trees in a nearby field being cut down have made them move elsewhere.

So with winter soon to replace this ‘warmer’ weekend, spare a though and a few peanuts or seeds for those animals you watch in the warmer months around your house and garden.

THE WINTER CHILL HAS ARRIVED

So the long nights and dark commutes to work are with us again, but as we bunker down for winter how does wildlife cope?

Many depart to warmer climes in search of food that would be in very short supply here, while others adapt their eating habits. Some even come to this country for the winter.

 

Reports of swallows still in the UK have been heard this week, but these must surely be heading south now. The onset of the much colder conditions and the lack of daylight hours must mean these reports will soon cease.

What I expect to increase will be reports of fieldfares and waxwings. I’ve only seen fieldfares on rare occasions near my garden and never seen a waxwing. Luckily my parents-in-law live closer to the east coast so around Christmas I see quite a few fieldfares and the odd waxwing taking advantage of the numerous winter berries.

I’ve increased my supplies of nuts to the bird feeders this week to help top up the natural supply of food, although some birds may rely much more on what I and my neighbours put out than any other food source during winter.

The number of birds I’ve noticed in the garden has decreased, although this is probably down to me being unable to spend much daylight watching for them.

Robins, blue tits, great tits, house sparrows, tree sparrows and blackbirds are still using my garden every day, though I’m hoping to see more of the great spotted woodpeckers, goldfinches, long tail tits and maybe one or two surprises.

I’ll be checking the nestboxes over the coming weeks to clean them up and help provide a place for birds to shelter and a communal huddle for warmth. Perhaps I’ll get the camera working again and get some pictures up on here.

The garden is halfway to being prepared for winter, though I’m leaving dead plants and leaves in areas so insects can shelter, while the bushes are being not being trimmed short so birds can also find shelter.

Over the next few weeks I’ll show some images of how this is coming along, subject to any early snow!