Please Help the Birds this Winter!

With the harsh weather well and truly here, we must turn our thoughts to the vulnerable at this time of the year.
Firstly look after yourself, secondly look after your neighbour and last but not least, please spare a thought for our wildlife!

Our forest birds take a right battering, especially when the ground is frozen with ice and snow. Finding enough food and water to survive is tough for them and this is where we can help.
If you are unable to take the food into the forest, park or countryside, put some out in your garden; the birds will find it as they associate gardens as a good source for food as many of us already have feeders for them.
Break the ice on any water source you find and also take some fresh water out for them as it is so easy to forget that they need to drink as well as eat!
Wild bird peanuts and sunflower hearts are high in nutriance and also cheese is a good source of fat and calcium, which is essential for the birds survival.
To see a tiny bird struggling to find food is gutting, but when you see them taking advantage of the food you have taken out, the feeling is awesome and you go home knowing you have helped them survive.

I usually mix the seed and nuts together with grated cheese. You then have a lump of food, which can be pushed into crevices or just placed on a surface without falling to the ground and lost in the snow. Although bread does not have a good source of protein or fat, one or two slices will give your mix some consistency and help it to bond together.
Look for somewhere high up like a fallen tree or fence post and place the food on top of it, this will ensure the food will not be eaten by deer, wild boar, sheep and even dogs passing by.

Break up the bread into a bowl or kitchen sink with a little water.


Add the sunflower hearts.


Then the peanuts.


Grate the cheese over the top.


Then mix well.


However, this activity can cause severe bruising and swelling to your right eye, but there is a remedy. Cleaning the sink afterwards seems to stop this from happening!




You are now ready to take your food out to the birds. I usually take the food into the forest as there are not many cats out there, which could take advantage of the birds feasting on the food, but as mentioned earlier your garden is a good place if you are unable to get out.

Selecting your spot. If you know of an area where the birds are fed regularly, then this is ideal as the birds will not be far away and word will soon get out that fresh food has arrived!
If you don't know where to put the food, look for an area close to a car park as you can guarantee that this will almost certainly be a place where the birds hang out, hoping for tit bits from motorists.
Place your food on something raised from the ground, like a fallen tree, or fence post and then sit back and watch as the birds find it.

Here are some pics from over the years of the birds I have helped. I do this every year as many times as possible and it makes me feel good, knowing I have done something positive to help them.

A blue tit having spotted the food, sits on a branch nearby. He has fluffed up to help insulate himself from the freezing conditions.


A great tit also lands nearby.


A dunnock is first to land on the fallen tree.


Then a mistle thrush drops in.


Followed by a pied wagtail.


And then a grey wagtail.


Even a pigeon turns up!


It was great to see a tree creeper appear!


It wasn't long before the blackbirds arrived.

Male


Female


Then a long tailed tit!


And it wasn't long before the chaffinch arrived.


Then a robin, the perfect Christmas Card image!


And finally, the scene where it all happened.



So why not have a go yourself and see how many different birds you can help this winter!

Rob

A Mixed Bag

Gave the birds a feast earlier as we have some cold weather on the way. All the recent species, which were absent the last time I fed them turned up. All apart from the Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail and Tree Creeper.
The conditions were poor with a grey sky and not much light, but it was still good to get out and help them. Even a grey squirrel turned up!


Pied Wagtail



Dunnock



Cole Tit


Male Chaffinch


Grey Squirrel


Rob

Help The Birds This Winter

You are probably aware that our wild birds are struggling for food in this hard, severe winter weather.
The ground is so hard that they are finding it difficult to locate their normal food, like insects etc. It is times like these that we can make a massive difference to the lives of our feathered friends.
There are lots of ways you can help, but I find the following the best as it gives the birds lots of nutrients and the correct fats to help them through the cold days.
Its cold out there in the daytime, but imagine what it must be like at night!
I have photographed the process of mixing the correct food for the birds. See below.



Around 2 slices of bread in a little water. Bread bloats the birds and does not have many nutritional values for them, but it helps with the binding.


Next, a good helping of seed. You can use any type of bird seed, but I have used sunflower hearts here as the birds can just peck them up and swallow them straight down.

Then some nuts. They are high in oil and fat, but it is the fat the birds need to produce energy and they need as much of that as they can get.

The last of the ingredients is grated cheese. This is again high in energy and also helps with the binding process.

Get your hands in there and mix it all together until you have a big lump. It can be placed on the ground, in the bow of a tree branch or pushed into holes.

Don't forget to clean the sink afterwards and before you go out, or else you will end up with a sore eye and ear ache!!!

If you know a place where people feed the birds often, take the food to that site, it will be found immediately as the birds in that area will be used to food being taken out and will therefor be waiting.

Hang around and watch how many birds come down to feast on your free food. It will feel good, I promise you that.

Rob

Forest of Dean Snow and Wild Boar

Wasn't going to venture out today, but my friend popped by with his 4x4 and this was all the encouragement I required to get my butt out the door.
We started off taking a look at some of our local lakes and ponds. All were virtually frozen solid, except for some clear areas near the shallows.

What shocked us, was the amount of "human" activity we could see on the ice. I am amazed that there are people still willing to risk their lives, especially after all the warnings!

Click images for lager size...


Lightmoor pond.



The following 4 are from Steam Mills Lake.

Two coots and a gull.

The water must be too cold!

We then moved on into the forest where we came across this print. Do you know what made it?

The print is facing forward, but look to the rear and you will see to indentations in the snow, at either side.

These were formed by dew claws, which can be found on various animals, including wild boar.

We decided to try out our tracking skills in the snow.

It wasn't long before we found our first one. Can you see her?

How about now?

Here they are. I only had my wide angle lens with me and this was taken at 55mm. Won't be making that mistake again!

However, I did take my video camera. Enjoy.

Rob

Hard Time For All Animals

On Tuesday 12th, I decided to pop out to feed and hopefully get some half decent pics of the birds at Speech House. Lucky I did as the snow came in that night and made it impossible for me to get out.
When I got out, there was a slight problem! The free grazing sheep in the area have wised up to people taking food out for the birds and they hide in the forest, waiting until you put the food out, then they emerge like ravenous vultures!


One steps out and does a bit of posing, just to distract you while the others pile into the bird food!


I was a bit annoyed at first, until I realised that there was no way of stopping them and that they must be extremely hungry to eat bird seed.

Especially as there were around 15 of them.

So I decided to find another spot, where they could not reach the food. I found one, just around the corner and luckily I still had enough food to see the birds alright.

Rob

Hungry Birds - 9th Jan 2010

It's no joke out there for our wildlife! I took some food out for the birds today and the sheep were trying to eat me! Well they were trying to get to the food I took out actually, but it just proves how bad it is out there when the sheep are competing with the birds.

A large bag of nuts and seed, as well as some grated cheese delivered to the Cyril Hart Arboretum should keep them going for a while.

PS: I should have reported this yesterday... While I was out walking, I heard a lot of gunfire! This is probably the wild boar cull in full swing?

Of all the reports, suggesting that there are hordes of them all over the place, I would just like to say that I did not see one. Not a single track or sign of them, deep in the forest or along the road verges.

There is a lot of exaggeration and scaremongering regarding the boar and their numbers. I also know that there are silent people out there, waiting to speak against people like me if something goes wrong, but these people do not and never will bother me.

For some reason there is and there always has been a lot of negativity regarding wildlife, nature and conservation. Some people look on it as being geeky, but this is far from the truth.

Here are some pics from today, mainly robin's as they were everywhere. Poor light led to a challenging session, so don't expect too much!

Rob