While you are out taking photos of birds in the snow this weekend, take a moment to think about how our feather friends could be suffering from the big freeze.
The Beast from the East has certainly thrown up some fantastic opportunities for Richmond bird photos, but it's vital we do all we can to protect our birdlife during these harsh times.
Small garden birds are particularly vulnerable when the ground is frozen solid or covered in snow. Robins, wrens, sparrows, dunnocks and are all susceptible during the harsh weather.
A robin needs to eat a third of its body weight every day just to survive the night
Take the robin for example. It needs to eat a third of its body weight every day just to make it through the night. If it can't penetrate the ice and snow to reach the seeds and insects it feeds on, it's left at serious risk of starvation. And what's even more important than food?......water. Yes, that's right....just as many small birds die of thirst during these icy weeks as they do from hunger.
What can I do to help and which foods can I use?
1) Don't forget about water!:
Birds need water as well as food. Having a bowl of water and a bird bath will help attract birds to your garden and encourage them to stick around longer. Under no circumstances should you add anti-freeze during the winter (people do it, seriously).
2) Bacon rind
Up until the late 1990s it was widely accepted that raw unwanted meat fat was an excellent source of protein for birds – especially during winter when there is a scarcity of bugs, buds and seeds. The unwanted rind on a rasher of bacon was a popular choice; scissor chopped into tiny pieces and ready-made for the tits and finches. However, in recent years, the bird tables have turned with many animal nutritionists now citing animal fat as a source of long-term health problems among birds.
Meat such as bacon often comes highly processed or smoked with extra salt which garden birds cannot process. Animal fats/rinds are perfectly acceptable as long as you are certain the meat has not been salted and that it does not contain traces of nitrosamine (sometimes used to help preserve food). It’s also imperative that rind is chopped into tiny pieces to avoid choking and to prevent larger birds or animals making off with a huge fatty feast.
3) Whole peanuts:
Peanuts are a fantastic source of protein for birds and very popular with tits, sparrows and finches - but there are two significant dangers when it comes to peanuts in the garden. Firstly, it is vital that adults are not tempted to feed their young whole peanuts during the nesting season as there is a very real possibility a large nut could choke a chick in the nest. There are several steps you can take to avoid this from happening:
a) Use metal mesh bird feeders which prevent adult birds from taking whole nuts. Under no circumstances should you use nylon mesh nut feeders as smaller birds have been known to become entangled.
Chopped up fruit could be a lifesaver for garden birds during the winter
b) Mash the nuts before leaving them in the garden.
c) Use meal worms instead of nuts during the nesting season – they provide just as much (if not more) protein.
The second danger lies in the salted peanut. The stomachs of most garden birds are not designed to digest salt.
4) Bread:
Families have been feeding bread to birds for centuries – particularly ducks and geese. But while our children may get huge joy from throwing crusts to the swans and interacting with nature at such close quarters, we could be doing more harm than good?
You don’t need a Masters in wildlife biology to know bread provides very little nutritional value to a bird. In the same way that bread acts as a satisfying answer to hunger among humans, it is equally tempting to birds, yet more damaging. Studies over the last decade suggest bread could be one of the main causes of ‘angel wing’, a condition most commonly found among ducks and geese which have been feasting on the crumby offerings handed out in town and city lakes.
The birds gorge on dough for months on end before developing a strange wing growth which stops them from flying. This deformity leaves them open to predation but, even more worryingly, sees them pass on the dietary imbalance to their young which then grow up with the same condition. Bread has also been found to leave birds bloated and lethargic, again leaving them vulnerable to predators and too ‘lazy’ to forage for more nutritious foods.
5) Coconut:
Coconuts, like most other nuts, are a tremendous source of protein for birds. Half-shelled coconuts dangling from a bird table or a fence post in the garden are an excellent solution to the dearth of protein-fuelled insects during the winter months.
However, start scattering a thin layer of desiccated coconut on the lawn and you could be responsible for a mini genocide. The process of desiccating a coconut sees nut meat shredded or flaked and then dried to remove as much moisture as possible. While fine for humans, this powdery food (often used in cakes) has been found to expand in the stomach of birds and can lead to death.
If you are in any doubt at all, simply feed the birds fruit instead. Try to stick to clean and unprocessed foods where possible, like cut-up pieces of fruit and vegetables. Pieces of apple are great for attracting blackbirds and song thrushes to your garden.
6) Porridge:
Birds truly relish dry porridge oats which once again provide a protein rich meal for both adults and young. But it’s imperative the oats are raw, not cooked.
Cooked porridge becomes glutinous and may become smeared around a bird’s beak. It can then harden, gluing the bill shut and preventing the bird from feeding.
Read more about Twickenham bird photos at www.ilikebird.uk