life - COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING
Summer
Birds in your
garden
Blackbird
By Tony Ridd - [email protected]
Attracting birds to your garden is probably one of the
simplest tasks there is. Buy a basic bird feeder, fill it up with
mixed seed and watch the birds, literally fly in. This is almost
guaranteed and as with all wildlife activity it will give you
hours, days even years of enjoyment.
The limit of enticement is
really down to your own
imagination, time and budget.
Water is vital to all wildlife so
it is important that there is a
constant supply of clean water for
the birds to drink and bath in.
You don’t have to look far to find
Greenfinch
56
bird feeders. Shops, magazines
even newspapers sell the feeders
with a mind boggling variety
of seed, nuts, suet balls and
mealworms. Remember you can
only attract varieties of birds that
are local to your area, if a species
is not present nearby simply
offering them food is unlikely to
draw them to your garden. My
advice is start off with a simple
and usually the cheapest bird
tube, fill it with a basic wild bird
mix, and move on from there.
Look at what your garden has to
offer! Birds don’t just require food
and water, they
need shelter,
song perches
and nesting
sites. An open
lawn is a good
start, it gives a
clear view and
makes a hunting
area for birds in
search of ants
and worms.
Diversity is the
key and by
offering as many
different microenvironments
as possible
will attract the
largest variety
of birds.
What is
growing in your garden? Does it
produce flowers, seeds, berries or
fruit? Countryside hedges offer
refuge from the weather, ideal sites
for home building and can provide
a larder through much of the year.
Birds are quite happy to make
their own nests to suit their
needs. Encouraging them with
boxes, holes in sheds or covered
ledges is always welcome and
will ensure that, if well sited, will
give you a grandstand view of
feeding time and ‘rooky’ flying
lessons when the chicks emerge.
At home we are lucky enough to
have a colony of house sparrows
and dunnocks who nest in the
honeysuckle ab ove the porch,
being a sheltered spot they stay all
year round nesting in late spring
and early summer. They along
with the blue tits, great tits, green
finches and yellow hammers are
happy to spend most of their day
eating seed from the bird tube.
From early summer we are visited
each year by swallows which have
up to three clutches of chicks
nesting in the stables and barn.
Island Life - www.isleofwight.net