Keeping garden birds well fed during winter
THERE has been a few stand-offs in the Laughing Badger Garden recently, including a cat and a magpie pussyfooting around a dead mouse, and another moggy enticing me to chuck a welly as it dug a latrine near my young buddleia.
But my favourite was the ambitious pas de deux performed by a starling and a wood pigeon.
With the grace of Nureyev and Fonteyn in the Nutcracker Suite, they took it in turns to dance around a few scraps in the first snow of winter, which seems the perfect cue to discuss the latest advice from the RSPB.
As the cold weather sets in and people step up their feeding of garden birds, the bird charity is warning about hidden hazards in some bird food packaging and giving some tips on how best to look after our feathered friends this winter.
The wildlife enquiries team receive a number of calls each year from gardeners reporting deaths or injuries to birds after they’ve become tangled up in the mesh or netting surrounding the food that’s been left out for them.
“Surprisingly, the netting that surrounds fat balls, peanuts and seed sold for bird food is one of the most dangerous things that can be put out in our gardens,” said Val Osborne, the RSPB’s head of wildlife enquiries. “And I recently received a report of two robins getting caught in this fashion.
“Despite suggesting they must be safe to wildlife because of the way they’re sold, the mesh and netting can easily trap birds’ feet and beaks, causing severe injury or even death.
“We recommend removing the food from the netting and transferring to a safe and suitable feeder.”
Val Osborne continued: “Many suppliers of bird food now stock products without these potential death traps. Not only can they cause injury or worse to wild birds but they are just one more hazardous item of plastic to go into landfill.”
With forecasts of snow and ice in the lead-up to Christmas, it’s now more important than ever to feed and water your garden birds; natural food sources have begun to dwindle, plants may become covered with snow, berry crops are coming to an end, and lakes, rivers and ponds are freezing over. As the harsh weather arrives, the extra food, water and shelter we provide for birds and other creatures could be the difference between life and death for many species.
The RSPB suggests calorie-rich foods like mixed seed, nyjer seed, fat-balls, suet sprinkles, sunflower seed and peanuts as well as kitchen scraps, like mild grated cheese, rice and porridge oats. A supply of fresh water is also essential for bathing and preening, with the most effective way to keep the water in your garden from freezing to pop in a light ball that will be moved by a gentle breeze and keep a small amount of water ice free – a ping-pong ball is ideal.
Alternatively, pour on hot water to melt the ice to make sure the birds can get to it.
For more information about safe ways to feed birds, how best to look after the wildlife in your garden and ways to avoid the pitfalls, visit www. rspb.org.uk
The RSPB stocks a range of bird foods and safe, high-quality feeders for your garden birds.
For more information, visit www.rspb.org.uk/ shop
Cat lovers will possibly be pleased to hear that I was only jesting about not being able to find a welly to chuck at the offending cat, and further that I hurled abuse instead, secretly hoping whichever neighbour it belonged to would hear.
Truth is, I’ve tried scattering lion-dung to no effect, pity I couldn’t try a real one, and now I’d like some advice from readers please; how do I stop cats using my garden as a toilet?
Perhaps someone can tell me in native cat tongue how to say, ‘Why don’t you clear off and do it in your own garden, and while you’re at it, leave my birds alone before I set Rudolph the hard-faced wood pigeon on you?’