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Sparrowhawks are a nightmare in the garden.

We had 6 pairs of blackbirds and the sparrowhawk had the lot, plus a pair of thrushes.

We also had 22 colared doves and it had everyone.  when it had cleared the garden out it just leaves - to find another garden to decimate.

We have tried to grow things round the bird table and put obsticles up so the sparrowhawk cannot just swoop in and take feeding birds.  These vandals have to be checked

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I received the above comment from Sally at Top Veg. I asked two different organisations and received two very different replies

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It is most distressing for bird lovers who try to help song birds.  Our charity is fighting the entrenched view of the conservation establishment that everything finds its own balance - this in our managed environment is nonsense. 

Our research with the BTO and the University of Reading is aimed to show up the real dangers of uncontrolled predation. 

The reply above is from     SONGBIRD SURVIVAL

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The sparrowhawk issue is one that many people with bird tables find hard.  Sparrowhawks were decimated in the 1960 with farm chemicals and following the banning of these they started to recover.  There is now a healthy population and anywhere that their food congregates they will feed.

I am not suggesting we should not feed the birds and enjoy watching them, just that we have to accept that predator birds eat others.

The above comment is from ROYAL  SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS

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WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS

PLEASE DROP ME A LINE IN THE COMMENT BOX

I  WOULD LIKE TO KNOW

One day, some time in the future I will be too ill and old to put bird food out.

Different generations of birds will keep on coming to my bird feeders - if there is bird food there.

I have seen two young birds on a fence near the bird table.  I suppose next year those same ‘fledglings’ will be brining their young to my bird tables.  And so it will go on.

I’m writing this sitting at a window that looks onto one of the bird tables.

Whoever lives here after me won’t continue my daily routine of bird feeding and putting out a variety of food such as peanut granules, black sunflower seed, grated cheese, sliced apple, bird food mixes etc.

So one day this will come to an end.  What will my feathered friends do then?

Fly off to the next birdtable I expect!

They will survive and that’s all ther matters.

British dairy farmers could be forced out of business by cheap imports of milk.

Years ago British steel was too expensive and could be produced cheaper abroad.

Same went for coal.

When dairy farmers have gone bankrupt and there is hardly any milk being produced in Britain will the the EU countries still keep the price of milk low.

Did they do this with steel and coal?

Looking after a dairy herd is a skill that takes a long time to learn.  It used to be passed down in the family.  Now young people know they will not be able to earn a living from dairy farming. 

It must be a sad day when a dairy herd that has been on the same farm for years has to be sold at auction. 

When I was nobbut a lass there were three or four dairy farmers in the village.  The milk was collected in churns and went to be processed locally. 

The cows in the village  were sometimes herded through the village streets  to and fro to the milking parlour, depending on which field they had been grazing in.

The village was busy with farming.

The milk went in churns to a local dairy.  So the carbon footprint would have been minimal.

But that was a long time ago and is a long way away from where we are now.

I wonder if we will all end up using powdered milk.

We only produce 60% of our own food and we are one of the most populated countries in the world.  We are about ten times more densly populated than France and America. 

The politicians should be thinking long term of our food security, but they don’t. 

What if the imports of food dry up? 

What if there is a few years of bad harvest all over the world and there is no excess food to be imported to Britain. 

What if the price of food that is being brought into Britain sky rockets and becomes a luxury

One of the signs of a third world country is the fact that it cannot feed itself. 

Am I scaremongering.  What do you think?

Droughts in summer.  Frozen water in winter. 

Either way birds often cannot find fresh  water.  

 Making sure there is a supply of fresh water available for all the birds to drink  will help a lot of birds - and will attract birds to your garden.

A lot of birds need to drink fresh water at least a couple of times a day.

It is so easy to put fresh water out in any small container.  If you have a minute to spare put a small container of water out in the garden for our feathered friends.

TOP TIP

If the container has a smooth base put some stones in the bottom.  This gives birds something to perch and grip on as they are drinking

TWO REASONS WHY BIRDS NEED WATER

Birds need water for

• Drinking
• Bathing

In summer providing water is important. 

Providing water all year round is important

 Birds bathe all year round.

I think it’s seems strange that in winter especially  it’s vital for birds to bathe. 

Bathing keeps birds feathers in good condition. 

In winter this becomes vital because feathers in good condition  keep birds warm through the freezing cold nights.

Strange but true.  In winter, it’s good for birds to hop into freezing cold water to bathe, This helps them keep warm in freezing dark nights. 

So if you start putting water out don’t stop!  Keep fresh water in your garden all the time.

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PROVIDING WATER BY BUILDING A GARDEN POND

  A few years ago we built a garden pond.  Because

• we thought it would look nice and 
•  we would have less grass to cut.

The main reason this pond is a delight to look at is  because of the variety of birds that visit the pond daily to enjoy the fresh water.

It is fascinating to watch them  drink and bathe at the edge of the pond

By more good luck than management we made one side of the pond a gradual slope. The other sides are sloping, but more steeply.  The gradual slope makes it easy for the birds to stay in the shallow edge of the water. 

When we built the pond we also built  a ledge in

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It’s a lovely sunny day here and the garden pond is a hive of activity. 

I can see the flurry of bird wings and the ripple of water as birds bathe at the edge of this pond.

We get birds as small as sparrows to as large as Rooks at the pond.

 The other day we had a young hare sitting at the edge of the pond.   It was sat there for ages  nibbling the fresh green shoots at the steep side of the pond. At one time it was so near the edge of the water we thought it would tumble in and we would have one bedraggled young hare. Can young hares swim?  In the end it must have decided it had eaten enough and sloped away into the hedge.  I have never been able to watch a young hare at such close quarters before.   We usually only catch a glimpse of them in the fields.

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We often hear about how important putting bird food out is for out native birds.

Putting water out is just as important and very easy to do.

I have been  asking questions and reading. 

It has been said it could be

• global warming across the sahara and
• increased predation by Hobbys - they can fly faster than swifts.

There is anecdotal stories about a big mortality around the Zambezi River when air temperature plummeted 20 deg C - swallows fell out of the sky.  As I say this is only anecdotal but could be true.

There have also been two bad breeding seasons in England.

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 The most recent comment I have received is -

I live in Brackley Northamtonshire, we have had swallows nesting in the apex of our house roof for as long as i can remember, however this year have not even seen a single bird, or a swift for that matter, where are they all? Mike

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Please - if you have any info, stories, have read a report about this,  or have actually seen a decline or increase in swallows, swifts and martins please let me know.   It only takes a jiff to leave a comment.

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Peanut granules  give birds  energy for the day and night ahead.  This is important at any time of the year,  but more so when it is winter  because in winter birds need high protein to survive the dark, cold nights.  So peanut granules are a good all round bird food

Peanut Granules - Energy Food for Birds

PEANUT GRANULES ARE

• Bite sized pieces of peanut heart
• Easier for bird to eat and digest than whole peanuts
• Packed with protein and oils
• Appeal to all garden birds not just birds that can feed from peanut feeders.
• Can be fed from bird tables, the ground, ground feeders and also tube feeders - which is why peanut granules attract more garden birds.
• An energy food that helps birds survive the winter nights

PEANUT GRANULES WILL PROVIDE AN ALL YEAR ROUND (ESPECIALLY  WINTER)  BANQUET FOR -

• Robins
• Dunnocks,
• Chaffinches
• Blackbirds
• Blue Tits
• Coal Tits
• Great Tits
• Greenfinches
• Sparrows

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HERE ARE TWO CHOICES OF PEANUT GRANULES

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CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR PEANUT GRANULES FROM HAITH’S

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CLICK ON THIS LINE FOR PEANUT GRANULES FROM GARDEN BIRD SUPPLIES 

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Let me know which supplier of peanut granules you would prefer to use.

Surely, killing tens of thousands of cattle a year because of bTB cannot continue. 

Something has to be done to help the financial and emotional survival of many farmers who produce the food we all eat.

In Wales last year more than 12,000  cattle were slaughtered because of bovine tuberculosis. 

Already this year (2009) between Jan and  the end of April more than 5,000 cattle have been killed as a result of the disease. 

Surely, the increase in infection year after year must not / cannot continue. 

Badger number used to be dealt with humanely.  There was a healthy badger population and no TB.

TB has wiped out large and small herds across Britain.

Some of these cattle were hardy, born on the farm and never housed.

One farmer had for years been champion of  Britains indigenous native breeds.  Then, because of TB,  he had to watch his prime cattle go off to slaughter.

Prime cattle going to slaughter because of catching TB.  Such waste.

Years of care and breeding go into having a herd of cattle.  Knowing this can be wiped out because of something out of your control - well how would you feel if your favourite pet could easily catch TB and have to be put down.

We are not self sufficient in food.  In fact we import nearly half the food we put on out kitchen tables. 

To waste any of our home grown food is, to me, a crying shame. 

• Badgers have no natural predators. 
• Badgers are now living on land laying between 1,800 and 2,000 feet - this has never happened before. 

What does a badger deliver for the countryside.

Cattle deliver

• quality beef,
• milk and
• cream ,
• leather shoes and
• belts.

Badgers also hoover up the ground   - destroying habitats of ground nesting birds, their eggs and pollen carriers.  I have never seen this fact recorded anywhere, have you?

What do you think?

Nothing has changed - we still have our swallows in the barn and drinking from our reservoir.

They seem as plentiful as ever.  Hope this is helpful.

Catalonia is an autonomous region of Spain located on the  Mediterranean Sea next to France. 

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