The birds and the bees
THE RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch took place last weekend, with volunteers counting the number of birds visiting their gardens during a single hour. It’s something you can do any day to get a good insight into whether your garden has the right elements to attract all-important wildlife including hedgehogs, frogs and pollinators as well as birds.
You can bet the people who reported the biggest numbers during the RSPB weekend will have had bird tables and feeders, perhaps bird baths and bird houses too.
Some birds, such as blue tits and finches, can balance on feeders hung from trees but others, like blackbirds and robins, prefer eating from a bird table or off the ground.
Bird baths provide water for drinking as well as bathing and bird houses can be a source of joy if you’re lucky enough to get blue tits or tree sparrows living in them.You can also buy long nesting boxes with several holes for colonies of sparrows, and others for swallows and bats.
But the problem with filling feeders with seed is that spillage can attract mice and rats and if that’s a problem for you it’s worth planting shrubs, trees and flowers instead that will attract birds but not rodents.
The RSPB advises crab apple and rowan trees or holly and hawthorn in hedges because all provide autumn and winter berries or fruit for birds and spring blossom for pollinators such as bees.
Almost any sort of hedge is good for nesting birds, though, while fallen leaves or wood piles are not only perfect for hedgehogs and insects – they’re free.