The RSPB...
One of a number of charities that look after and advise on the care of the wild birds that visit or live within the UK.
On the weekend of the 30th/31st January they held their annual national survey where they ask the public to take an hour and count how many birds visit the garden or a public space you happen to be and then later they come back and tell us whether certain speices have reduced in number or have increased.
I have to say that for as long as I can remember the weather of the weekend chosen has been poor...high winds, rain and very cold.
It's not been helped by the changes made to the environment by new neighbours that moved in and removed lots of green stuff and covered their gardens(front and back)with lots of stone and concrete.
So this year I did find numbers were down and some birds were missing.
However, I did manage to see in the greatest numbers first...Starlings, Sparrows, Blackbirds, Seagulls, Colared Doves, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Crows, Magpies, Chafinches and Robins(some were in single figures)
As for the Seagulls(considering we are quite a long way in land, that's amazing(and we have more of them since a local supermarket was built nearby)even though there is no suggestion that food is being discarded to attract them. They don't land in the garden as such but do sit on rooves and land in the road at the front of the house so that's close enough for me to include them. And some areas do not see any Sparrows but luckily they are still around here.
I hope to put some extra bushes/shrubs in the garden to offer the birds both protection and hopefully they will have berries at certain times of the year to provide extra food.
Hopefully in time numbers will increase. This at a time where many tv and radio programmes and wildlife experts are asking us to care for our feathered friends and wildlife in general because as much as anything "we" the Humans have taken more and more of the land and habitat that they live.
This is also against some of the problems being faced by red tape from authorities trying to stop people feeding the birds and wildlife who have done so for decades and have done so in a very responsible way.
Councils have been introducing new rules in some areas and where some housing associations have taken over property new rules have been introduced making it difficult to continue to do this.
For all the wild and cold weather of late it appears both squirrels have continued to survive(Sorry the image is so small)
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 1:01 pm
6 Comments:
I was a memebr of the RSPB since I can remember..."Young Ornithologist" before that...no!...really. Then we were family memebrs up until a few years ago when. Put loads of bird cover up and you won't be disappointed, howeevr the squirrels will probably scoff any grub you put out.
You've spotted similar numbers of birds to me Gildy - the feeders in our garden are occupied most the early morning once its light. As for the seagulls being inland how far away from a tip or landfill are you?
It's good posting about the RSPB and then showing an image of a squirrel :-)
The squirrels(unless I miss something)only come out of their hiding seemingly every couple of days, not every day and not always together. They seem to leave the bird food alone. And the birds seem to live alongside them. They do not appear afraid as they would if I or a cat was around.
The other day a neighbour's cat was showing interest in a squirrel and I had to frighten it away. Looked as though it was attempting to climb a tree to reach the Squirrel's dray.
As for the Seagulls, today as I aproached the Tesco's supermarket there must have been at least 30 flying around the store but there is no food debris and directly under where they were flying was away from the premises and more over roads and possibly houses.
As far as I am aware we are not near a land fill site either. Where are we located? Reasonably in land, it would take 30-40 minutes to reach the coast by car. We're close to Darlington so on a map that may give you an idea of the location.
Luckily we don't have squirrels in Guernsey - there are some advantages of being a small island!
I remember that weekend weather-wise. The map of the UK was divided neatly in half with the northern half having dreadful weather and the southern half not. It was certainly gorgeous here - warm, sunny and generally wonderful!
I think your neighbours removing the greenery from their garden says it all really. It's a major contributor to the drop in birdlife. The Jewsonisation of suburbia as Clarkson called it the other day.
I'm determined that when I get a big enough back garden I'm going to plant it as woodland, don't get me wrong I haven't come into loads of money I just mean it'll kind of mirror woodland.
Gildy, your flipping neighbour has got a lot to answer for !
Post a Comment
<< Home