Springwatch!

Springwatch is back on our screens (BBC2) for its tenth year, this year they have based themselves at the fabulous RSPB Reserve at Minsmere in Suffolk. Minsmere is the RSPBs flagship reserve and hosts an amazing 5600 species of plants, insects, mammals and birds!
The programme this year is concentrating on bird species such as Avocets, Bitterns, Cuckoos, Stone Curlews, Nightingales, Marsh harriers, White –tailed Eagles and Garden Birds. Mammals being followed this year include Fox’s, Badgers, Red Deer, Beavers, Rabbits and Hedgehogs.
The hosts, Chris Packham and Michaela Strachen take us on a wonderful journey exploring the wildlife of the superb 10km square Minsmere reserve, it is an internationally important reserve and has many different habitats within its boundaries.

Minsmere is famed for nesting Avocets. Avocets were extinct in Britain for a 100 years, but in 1947 a pair bred at Minsmere, since then the Avocet has spread and now breeds at many sites in the UK, a real success story that started at Minsmere.
This week, Chris was talking about the successes of our garden birds, I was amazed to hear that Blue Tits occur in 98% of our gardens, that is fantastic news and no doubt helped by all our Twootz customers who regularly feed the birds throughout the year. Bill Oddie was talking about other successes, Goldfinch for example, more alarming is the decline of many species, House Sparrow and Starling spring to mind.

Twootz would love to hear from you about the birds species you have breeding in your gardens and we will compile a list for sending into Springwatch, this will help to assess our garden birds and the current population trends, which bird species are increasing, which are declining.
If you would like to send photo’s, please do, we will create our own gallery and will present a prize to a lucky winner, we will also send them in to Springwatch and answer any bird questions you may have.
So….fill your feeders and email your results, let us know what species you are seeing in your garden and help us to help Springwatch, the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology to monitor and survey our Garden Birds.

Email me, neill@twootz.com with your results, questions and photo’s. Thanks!