We moved house in June, and a major change has been the decision to focus on providing natural food for birds rather than putting out seeds and fat balls.
The front garden already has a firethorn (pyracantha), popular with sparrows. Before the weather became too hot and dry, we added a few plants, including lungwort for early pollinators and a rosemary, and we plan to put another large shrub in later in the year. Other new features are a birdbath/insect drinking station, and a small log pile. The bird bath is tiered, making it easy for insects to drink from.
The sparrows were quick to use the bird bath!
Apart from sparrows, local birds include wood pigeoons in mature cherry trees in next-door-but-one’s back garden, crows and gulls overhead and, to my delight, a blackbird who sings from the cupola on the school across the road. I really missed hearing the blackbird’s song when it disappeared from our previous neighbourhood.
More good news: to my relief, swifts are abundant here. We previously lived in a swift hotspot, and though we’ve only moved a few streets away, I was concerned there wouldn’t be as many. But there was no need to worry. There’s been lots of activity, and in mid-July, I was watching up to 25 feeding overhead from our back garden, something I didn’t notice where we lived before.
I’d seen a few swifts racing past the front of the house once or twice, but just after writing the paragraph above, I had a real treat. For about ten minutes, I stood out the front watching 5 or 6 swifts banging on the next two houses along and on our house. Wow! The bangers are young birds checking out potential nest sites for next year. So obviously, the plan is to get a swift box, possibly two – and persuade my neighbours to do the same. I’m not sure what the sparrows will make of them, though – some were perched on the roof, commenting loudly while the swifts were swooping past!
It’s hard to get a photo of a swift, so instead, here I am with my swift hat on, just down the road at the infant school’s summer fayre during Swift Awareness Week.
We’ve also been working on the back garden to make it more welcoming to wildlife. Look out for part 2 to find out more.
Dandelion Nature 