Birds are important simply in the sense that they are beautiful in their own right – what could be lovelier than the sight and sound of a blackbird in spring? Yet they are also a measure of the health of our gardens. If you have a variety of birds going about their normal business of feeding, fighting, nesting, breeding and bringing up their young, the likelihood is that everything in and around your garden is doing well.
THE GARDEN HABITAT
In the past, it was thought that birds were happiest in ‘the wild countryside’ and gardens were a kind of second best, but current research suggests that, in many ways, gardens are of primary importance. In the UK, Europe or the USA, many of the areas that we think of as being ‘wild’ – fields, meadows, farmland – are in fact areas that were once woodland.
The pattern of our gardens, with trees and hedges all around, mixed planting, patches of overgrown weeds, compost heaps, rotting vegetation, vegetable gardens, ponds and bogs, buildings and so on, is more like the original natural woodland than modern farmland is. So, when you plan and plant up your wildlife garden (see pages 36–37), you are, more by default than by design, creating areas that many birds regard as being wild and natural.
Of course, you still will not attract birds that are entirely outside your region, but you will, if current surveys are anything to go by, attract around 25–40 different species. It is also important to change your way of thinking, so that when you see your cabbages being attacked by greenfly, for example, you think of the greenfly not as pests but as food for birds and other wildlife.
With this mindset, all the things that you once thought of being negative for your flower garden – weeds, flowers with dead heads, overgrown areas, piles of leaves, slugs and snails, ants, rotting fruit – you can now regard as positive for your bird garden.
SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDING
Feeders, bird tables and shop-bought bird food (see pages 38–39) are fine, and a good way of encouraging birds into your garden initially. Remember, however, that in the long term you should always be aiming to convert your garden into a ‘natural’ wildlife habitat with no need for such feeding. Over-generous supplementary feeding can also skew the population of some species at the expense of others.
POINTS TO CONSIDER
• The best way to attract birds is to create a large wildlife pond, which will bring in all the insects and other small creatures that birds like to eat.
• Cats are a nuisance, and you will have to do your best to keep them out (see pages 12–13).• Small dogs are good – they might scare off a few birds, but they will also frighten cats (see pages 12–13).
• Research which birds are common in your area, and then encourage them by managing your planting so that there is a year-round supply of food – seeds, nuts, berries, fruit and insects (see pages 36–37).
• Plant trees and grasses that are local to your area.
• Increase the number of compost heaps, so as to encourage as many worms and insects as possible – all good food for birds
Children are fascinated by nests and eggs, so it is essential to explain to them that they must only look from a distance and never try to handle a nest or its contents.
A blue tit (see page 48) searching for food, such as flies, bugs and other insects. Tits are also regular visitors to garden feeders.
This Dendrocopos major (Great Spotted Woodpecker) drums on a tree trunk with its bill to proclaim territorial rights.
A barn owl (see page 45) at dusk, poised and looking for the next meal – note the characteristic heart-shaped face.
A robin (see page 40) on the lookout for worms and bugs – this is one of the most common and familiar visitors to gardens.
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