Garden watch
Your guide to spotting birds from your home
IRISH people have taken a renewed interest in nature over the past year, bird enthusiasts have said.
As the Irish Mail on Sunday today gives away a free poster to help you identify birds that may arrive in our gardens and parks, Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland said the organisation experienced a fivefold increase in traffic to its website during the first lockdown and interest has remained high since, with membership applications also soaring.
‘Without doubt, being forced to spend much more time than usual close to home led to many people developing a greater interest in the wildlife they could see and hear in their gardens and on their local exercise walks,’ Mr Hatch said.
‘Nature became a real source of both entertainment and comfort for people during very dark days. Birdsong, and the dawn chorus in particular, also fascinated a lot of people, who perhaps had never stopped to notice it before or who had previously not heard it over the noise of traffic.
‘As time went on and the schools were forced to close, we also noted a big increase in people accessing the educational resource materials on our website, as well as our children’s activities section.’
Possibly the best-known and bestloved bird found in Irish gardens is the robin, BirdWatch Ireland says.
The spideog, in Irish, or the Erithacus rubecula in Latin, is a common sight all year round, with as many as four million breeding individuals in the country.
Contrary to what is sometimes thought, the sexes are indistinguishable from each other in the field and, unusually for an Irish bird, both the male and the female sing and defend territory.
Robins enjoy a wide and varied diet, eating worms, insects, spiders, small seeds, berries and even, occasionally, carrion.
Highly territorial birds, even during the winter, their ‘cute and cuddly’ reputation belies their sometimes very aggressive nature. Rival robins involved in territorial disputes will even fight to the death.
‘Increased membership of BirdWatch Ireland and other conservation groups has been one of the big positives from the past year,’ said Mr Hatch. ‘Most people have far more species of bird visiting their gardens than they realise, and the poster will really help them to put names to them and learn more about their habits,’ he added.
BirdWatch Ireland’s annual garden bird survey runs until the end of February and is encouraging people to record and upload sightings of all types of birds.
Last year’s results showed that the robin was the most common
‘Source of comfort and entertainment’
‘Dawn chorus fascinated a lot of people’
species in Irish gardens for a record-breaking 10th year in a row, followed closely by blackbirds and blue tits.
Birds can be fed with moist wholemeal bread, fruit, fruitcake, peanuts and sunflower seeds (in mesh feeders to screen out choking hazards). Solid fat is a perfect source of energy for garden birds.