Look after the birds and they'll help you to look after your garden

Our garden has always been a place to share with wildlife. Being either nocturnal or too small to be able to observe without making an effort, lots of our wildlife visitors will go more or less unnoticed for much of the time leaving only traces of their presence. Birds, however, will readily adopt a garden as a favourite service station if they are provided with the essentials food, water and places to nest and shelter.

Making Bird Cake

You can make various kinds of winter treats to help the birds through the cold winter when food is scarce. Different types of birds feed in different ways. Blue tits will cling upside down, sparrows will cling to hanging containers, robins will visit bird tables and blackbirds like to feed on the ground. If you want to provide them all with treats them you will need to create some treats to hang in trees, some to put on a bird table and others to place on the ground or on low feeding tables.

Goldfinches Visit the Plot and Garden

On the plot we hear goldfinches more often than see them. They twitter as they fly over the plot and garden or rest in the trees. 

 Our Encounters with Sparrowhawks

Seeing a bird of prey is always impressive. We have had a few close encounters with sparrowhawks.

Marauding Wood Pigeons 

This year wood pigeons have waged war on our plots by devastating our brassica plants.

Encouraging Blue Tits onto the Allotment or to the Garden 

Blue tits on the allotment or garden are helpful as they feed their young with thousands of caterpillars during the spring and summer.

A Partridge in the Green Manure  

This partridge was spotted on our plot resting among the green manure.

The House Sparrow has been in Decline
If you think house sparrows are just boring little brown birds - think again

Our shy visitors

The robin isn’t the only garden bird with a bright red breast

Identifying Garden Birds

If you don’t know a sparrow from a dunnock this is the page for you.

Bird Nesting Box Cam

In February 2011 we put up a new nesting box which has a camera installed so we can view life inside a nest box. This link takes you to another of our web sites where we have created a diary about what went on inside.