The Pest Control Army



Yesterday sunshine, today the snow falls.    I tramp through the blizzard to feed my pest control army -  the birds that inhabit our garden.   

Last weekend (29th -31st January 2021) the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds  (RSPB) held the British Big Garden Birdwatch.    This information has helped increase the understanding of the challenges faced by the nation's wildlife.   Over the past 40 years data has been collected, collated and analysed.    

Results have helped identify problems and contributed towards correcting setbacks. 

In one of the first surveys the decline of the song thrush in gardens was identified    In 1979 the thrush was the tenth most popular bird in our gardens in 2019 the tuneful thrush was number 20, numbers had declined by 76%.  

        

Birds are not only beautiful but beneficial to the garden too.   They bounce on electricity cables, perch on branches and sleep in the high canopy of trees.   The birds sweep our gardens free from invertebrates and insects that can cause damage to trees and plants.

The Song Thrush loves slugs and snails.    The Thrush will drop the snail on a hard surface.  Once cracked the shell reveals a juicy snail for this plump, soft plumed bird to eat.    

The Blue Tit works its way through vegetation eating greenfly, aphids and small caterpillars.  

The Blue Tit part of the Pest Control Territorial Army 

The sharp beak of the Starlings eat leather jackets, the lava of the Daddy Long Leg.

The tiny Wren, Britain's smallest bird and a carnivore, is permanently busy eating spiders and insects.

Swallows pass in the air space catching flying insects.   

An assortment of  different foods persuade a wider range of birds to visit.    Woodpeckers, Blue Tits and Long Tailed Tits love peanuts.   Robins eat mealy worms.  Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Sparrows enjoy sunflower seeds.    The Blackbirds tuck into chopped apple.    In the winter high calorie fat balls or suet balls are loved by all one and all.

Various bowls of warm water  for bathing and drinking are especially important in the winter. 

My own garden was home to over twenty different species when, last Saturday, I spent the one hour counting every bird that landed in the garden for the Big Garden Birdwatch.

The beautiful birds not only lift my spirits, they are ecologically advantageous.    They control thousands of garden pests.  Their highly coloured feathers and  flying antics keep me amused and focused.    They are my own pest control territorial army. 

   

 








 

Comments

  1. Unknown5 February 2021 at 19:16

    Look after them well. They are such great allies and beautiful to see and watch.

    ReplyDelete

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