Berries On The Hedges

The berries on the hedges around our paddock are thick and colourful – our usual garden birds are filling their boots and just ‘topping up’ on our feeding stations – but with forecasters prediction a hard/warm/dry/wet winter to come what should we be thinking about for our feathered guests for the harder times which are to come.

For a start a good Autumn clean-up is a good idea – with new branches tied into the feeding stations to deter the predators, new and clean methods of providing water, and the feeders prepared for winter. Now is a good time to replace the feeders which have seen better times and to think of ways to provide shelter over them – soggy seed soon becomes a slush.

Suet pellets seem to weather well in the more exposed feeders, and of course the old favourites peanuts last for as long as your birds allow them to !

But just cast a glance at this out-of-season picture of a Robin in the snow to remind yourself of what may be coming – compare that with the bounty that is available now and give yourself a pat on the back for the help that you give all the year round.