A lockdown opportunity
In February 2020 I treated myself to a new camera, in anticipation of my imminent retirement and plans to travel to distant places to see wonderful wildlife and capture it in pixels. My plans were, like everyone else's, almost immediately put on hold by the pandemic. Still champing at the bit to go out and play with my new camera, I instead turned my lens to the wildlife in our garden.
We moved into our current house 6 years ago and are lucky enough to have a good-sized plot. Most of it was what an estate agent might describe as a blank canvas, having previously been an orchard and a paddock for a pony; we had a few fruit trees and a vegetable plot (purportedly rabbit-proof) but, other than that, mostly what seemed to grow was meadow grass and brambles. Our original intention was to let much of the area revert to nature with little intervention from us. However, I quickly caught the gardening bug and discovered too many things I wanted to grow. So rather than a (very small scale) 'rewilding' we decided instead to try and create a garden that would be a haven for us as well as for wildlife. I thought that my photography project, with the additional hours observation this would require, might help us gauge how successful, or otherwise, we currently are in this aim.
One of our first positive wildlife conservation gestures was to install a bird feeding station. We provide sunflower seeds, peanuts and fat blocks in hanging feeders (contrary to everything we read, the birds that visit our garden are not remotely interested in niger seed) together with meal worms and mixed seed for ground-feeding birds. We also provide large plant saucers of fresh water, one of which contains pebbles as we have read that this is beneficial for bees and butterflies (some small birds also seem to prefer to drink from this). The feeding station is about 3m from our kitchen window, which allows us to study the birds in comfort. It is also convenient for refilling feeders, an important consideration in bad weather when it is vital that feeders are kept well-stocked. Several species, even some that are resident in the UK year-round, such as Long-tailed Tits and Pheasants, only visit our feeders during the winter months so we are extra diligent in our feeding efforts then as it seems to be a valuable resource.
We have recorded 50 species of birds in the garden. It is obviously the 15 or so species that are regular visitors to the feeding station that are easiest to observe and photograph (not so the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, which is very easily spooked despite being an almost daily visitor). We are careful to keep at a respectful distance so as not to disturb their feeding behaviour (using a long lens for photography). While the pair of Mallard that have taken up residence on our lawn in early spring in recent years happily follow us to the greenhouse demanding food with menaces (they have worked out that that’s where the seed is stored) they are unnerved if we try to approach them.
As the next stage of my project, I am trying to work out how to install a natural perch near the feeder as many birds like to use trees and branches to step down to feeders (it would also make for more natural photographs) but one that squirrels can't also use to launch themselves onto the feeder (our four resident squirrels can empty all four feeders in next-to-no time).
We considered ourselves very fortunate to have House Martins nesting under the eaves of our house in 2020 and spent what probably amounted to hours watching them hawking for insects and bringing them back for their young in the form of a sticky blob. The mess on the windows was a small price to pay for their company and we hope they will return this year (when I also hope to get better photographs of them!).