Bird Care

A pain in the neck

I am sitting at the computer finding inspiration for this week’s article when there is a thud at the window. The kids are off school with the snow so we all go over and open the window. A wee bird is lying looking a bit dazed in the snow. One of the lads goes out and comes back in, hands cupped and a wee pair of eyes looks up. The bird is popped into a furry slipper and left there to recover. This isn’t the first time this has happened. A few wee chirps emanate from the wee thing. We leave him in peace and start chatting amongst ourselves, reminiscing about other bird rescues and wondering whether his wing has been damaged. After ten minutes or so a beak opens. Water is put in a dropper and the bird gulps the drops down and is left in peace again. Shortly there is a flutter of wings and the bird flies to the window where one of the boys catch him while the other opens the window. We watch as our temporary visitor flies to the top of the tree wondering what tales he will tell to his friends about the strange warm world he was in and then he swoops down, landing on the feeder to tuck into some nuts.

We always enjoy putting out food for the birds. It is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to see wildlife really close up. In winter, birds may have difficulty finding natural foods such as berries, insects, seeds, worms and fruit. Earlier in the season we noticed the holly absolutely laden with berries – a sure sign of a long cold winter or so the old wives’ used to tell me when I was a kid. Nature has signposts for us, if only we could read them. Mind you not all of us have forgotton (I heard  the Donegal Postie on Highland radio who seems to know how to read the signs).

Feeding the birds regularly over winter will help the birds survive until the spring and God knows they have no supermarkets and oil centrally heated nests.


What would they eat?

Most kitchen leftovers can be used to feed birds. Bread can be crumbled up and scattered - moisten very dry bread first as it could cause dehydration.

Biscuits provide a rich source of fat, and cooked rice, pasta and pastry are packed with starch. Potatoes can be boiled, baked, roasted or mashed, and cheese - crumbled or grated - will be very popular with robins and wrens.

Fat is a wonderful source of energy - cut bacon rinds, fat from chops or blocks of suet into cubes. Mealworms can also be very useful, you can get large tubs of them from the petshop, Lidl were selling them too last week.

Fruit, such as windfalls or bruised apples and pears, goes down a treat with blackbirds and thrushes. It may also attract winter visitors from Scandinavia such as fieldfares and redwings.

Beware: Grapes, sultanas, raisins and some artificial sweeteners can be very toxic to dogs and some other wild/domestic animals. These foods should be put on a raised bird table and never scattered on the ground.

Go nuts

Fresh coconut in the shell is a great favourite with tits. Drill two holes in one end and drain off the milk. Saw the coconut in half and hang outside. Never put out desiccated coconut as it swells up inside a bird's stomach.

Peanuts are rich in fat and attract nuthatches, siskins, great spotted woodpeckers, tits, greenfinches and house sparrows. Peanuts may be naturally contaminated with an invisible toxin so make sure you buy peanuts of guaranteed quality. Use a darning needle to thread nuts in their shells onto string or put shelled peanuts in wire mesh containers or spiral feeders. Robins and dunnocks will eat crushed or chopped nuts. Never use salted nuts.

Bird seed mixes with sunflower seeds attract greenfinches and chaffinches. Dunnocks and finches prefer smaller seeds such as millet or canary seed.


Reduce risks

Scatter food on the ground for thrushes, dunnocks and wrens. Cats pounce from bushes and trees so don't put food nearby. Don't put food out late in the day; it might attract rats and mice overnight.

To reduce the risk of spreading disease, clean bird tables and feeders weekly and water bowls daily.

Bird pudding

* Make a mould, a half coconut shell is ideal, and thread some string or wire through a small hole in the base.
* Mix some seeds, chopped nuts, sultanas, biscuit crumbs and rolled oats in a bowl.
* Melt the same volume of lard or suet in a pan.
* Add the fat to the dry mix and stir well.
* Pour the mixture into the mould and leave to cool.
* When the pudding is set, hang the mould upside down in the garden.

Thanks to the DSPCA for their advice

Winter Tips

Trouble free shrubs

We have lots of evergreen shrubs in the garden. They do need pruning back occasionally to stop them merging together and taking over but generally they are trouble free. One thing I like about them is their resilience to adverse weather conditions. When we move out of the recent ice age the shrubs can bounce back and the garden resumes its green state. There are some people that suggest that we should brush or knock the snow off the branches or they will snap, but we generally never get snowfall that badly. Anyway it wasn’t snow in our garden; it was compacted hail which stuck to the shrubs like superglue, so there would be no flicking the stems clean. Best to just leave them as they are I say.

Mountain madness

Just like Christmas last year, we find ourselves snowed in. We are not exactly in the middle of nowhere but we are on the top of a hill with an uphill driveway. Getting the car out was impossible so it was a case of getting the backpacks out and walking through the fields to get to the shops. What usually takes just minutes turns out to be a morning’s jaunt. Not only do we experience the beauty of the Inishowen coastline walking into town but we also get to meet all the other folk in the shops that are also succumbing to mountain madness. We can exchange stories of how we can see the oil and coal levels falling fast as we attempt to heat our houses. All except one friend of mine I bumped into in the vegetable section of Aldi’s. He was insightful enough to build a nearly passive eco house, so even the winter sun is enough to warm enough to heat the rooms and water. Envious isn’t the word.

The snow and frost has been a bit of a shock to the plants and trees. Walking through Swan Park we notice that there are still leaves falling onto the snow. Autumn hadn’t finished. We still have lettuce popping its leaves out from under the ice as well. We probably won’t be eating it now but it will come in useful for feeding the guinea pigs. I’m still wanting to fatten them up for Christmas (I’m outnumbered though with my cost saving idea for a Christmas dinner ) Our broccoli and kale are still looking fabulous in the garden, they can withstand anything that’s thrown at them. I like to eat the small florets when they appear in late winter. Looking around the garden there’s very little else that we can eat in the next couple of months (hence the reason for being at the veg section of Aldi)

I cleared most of the vegetable beds before the weather closed in and I will be building them up in spring with some of the 25 tonnes of topsoil that I got last month. This way I can start the growing year off with weed free surfaces. A first for me.

Winter tips

It’s probably a bit late for me to be suggesting that you put any delicate plants into a sheltered spot or even in the garage. It might be a bit late also to move any delicate pots inside too, hopefully there should still be some intact so you could have a walk around and give the containers a bit of a tap, you can tell by the tone if they are cracked.

Talking of taps, if you have any outdoor ones cover them up with an old sack or some bubble plastic or insulation foam.

You could also use some of the bubble wrap insulation to put under the birdbath if you have one. The water might need replacing often too. If you have bird feeders keep an eye on those and keep them topped up too.
Empty the petrol out of your mower if it’s parked up for the winter.

Keep an eye out for Christmas plants to brighten up your rooms over the festive period. Choose from an ever growing range of plants which include.
• Winter cherry (solanum)
• Poinsettia
• Christmas cactus
• Norfolk pine
• Orchids
• Kalenchoe
• Amaryllis bulbs
• Begonia
• Cyclamen
• Hyacinth
• Topiary balls
• And even indoor Christmas roses

Overheard in the aisles of the local supermarket

“Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know… the birth of Santa. “
“The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband.”