I love it when I'm cleaning out my nest boxes in the autumn and I look at how the nests were built and think oh that's one of the pheasant feathers I found last winter or that's a big tuft of my dog's hair. When we had rabbits I'd keep all the fur we brushed off them and put it out for the birds. One nest was a 2" deep mattress of pure rabbit fur all neatly teased apart and reconstructed.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
That's a grand idea about feathers as I have an old pillow which is the wrong size for French pillowcases but which I can now happily recycle.
We had a pair of sparrowhawks in Belgium but Mr S, tho he swooped regularly on the feeders, was very rarely successful as there was nearby cover for the wee birds. Mrs S would get the occasional wood pigeon tho. Not seen either here so far.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
The feeders are all cleaned and filled, and I've picked through the
apple store and anything going off has gone out for the blackbirds. It's been really quiet in the garden today though so not looking good for my usual numbers tomorrow. Interestingly though the woods up the road are full of bird song as if spring has arrived. The weather is looking like turning back to snow on Sunday though so if that happens I should get loads more birds in. My record is 64 birds of 15 species in 2017 so I want to beat that
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Looking at the information sent in the post I take it we have a choice of Saturday, Sunday or Monday in which to do the count? My memory isn't very good but I felt as though last year it was one specific day. Remember it rained and spending half an hour in the shed. Thinking of putting out an extra feeder to encourage more at one time. Digressing somewhat I thought there would be a knitting pattern of the pigeon featured inside but no you have to go on the website and purchase a book and the total cost would be nearly £17!! Think how many plants you could buy with that.
No @Fran IOM you can do short periods all that weekend. I need to as birds arrive at different times. As long as the total for each type of bird is what you saw at one time you are ok. It gives snow here on Sunday so not sure what the count will be like, will be watching birds both days.😁
@Purplerain Thanks for that as that makes life a lot easier. You are quite right about birds arriving at different times. My wood pigeons don't come till the afternoon. Can also fit it in with the weather as well. So pleased I asked that.
I didn't realize that you can spread the time recording over the three days. The starlings tend to come at lunch time and the sparrows in the afternoon. The blackbird, thrush, tits, goldfinches and robins come in the morning. I can see my weekend will be interspersed with bird watching. All good fun though.
Yup.😁 it's the numbers that matter not the time. The snapshot of resident winter birds at this time has proved which birds are in decline or leaving traditional grounds. It's all very interesting.
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We had a pair of sparrowhawks in Belgium but Mr S, tho he swooped regularly on the feeders, was very rarely successful as there was nearby cover for the wee birds. Mrs S would get the occasional wood pigeon tho. Not seen either here so far.
Digressing somewhat I thought there would be a knitting pattern of the pigeon featured inside but no you have to go on the website and purchase a book and the total cost would be nearly £17!! Think how many plants you could buy with that.