Don’t Forget the Birds and the Bees!
Whilst we’re busy admiring our wonderful gardens, spare a thought for some of the wonderful creatures that also share our plots.
Our feathered friends have certainly become the gardener’s best friend, but we are often rather guilty of overlooking them at this time of year. We all know that feeding the birds in our garden, via a
bird table, can make a huge difference to their chances of survival, but did you know that more birds die of starvation during the summer months than in the winter.
According to the RSPB, extensive studies have revealed that even more birds die due to lack of natural food sources at this time of year than those who die from the cold in the winter. Many of us however still tend to concentrate only on
feeding birds in the winter months, but clearly it’s important to keep feeding all year round and especially now!
Many birds need to consume as much as 40% of their body weight each day and carry very little fat reserves. Access to a food source high in energy is vital to their survival and foods such as Black Sunflower seeds and Sunflower Hearts are ideal.
The RSPB now strongly recommend feeding wild birds all year round and surprisingly, there can be a big shortage of natural foods during the summer months. Look out for ChapelWood’s delicious smelling “Woodland Crumble”, containing meal worms, peanut flour and niger seed, which is designed to help parent birds feed their chicks.
Many gardeners believe that Bees are their best friends as they provide an essential service by pollinating many of our crops. Without them we would starve and have many fewer seeds to sow, but at least 20 species are in fact endangered, so it’s important to encourage as many as we can.
One quick and easy way to encourage bees into your garden is by placing a bee box in a sheltered part of the garden where it is still warm, but out of direct sunlight. An ideal place would be by a fence or in a flower bed or hedge. This may also encourage mice, but a year later bees may use the left over nesting material that has been left behind by them.
Introducing insect habitats into your garden can be a valuable way to help sustain the wildlife on your doorstep as well. Incorporating nests and houses into your garden will also help to encourage wildlife to your garden, giving them a place to set up a home. Notcutts also offers a guide to cater for
butterflies in the garden.