Throughout the year, I have always provided food for the birds that flock to my garden but was unaware until recently how vital this is owing to conditions which have affected natural food supplies. Apparently, at this time of year, with fledglings still needing to be fed, garden birds are having to work twice as hard to find food, and I am doing my best to provide it.
Somerfleld often have marked-down loaves and other suitable items and
Wholefoods of Leominster stock excellent food mixes in various amounts at very reasonable prices, so feeding the birds need not break the bank.
Three times a day, I put out bread and seeds at several location in my
garden and I’m rewarded immediately by the spectacle of many different kinds of birds descending upon them. Especially popular is a treat that my grandsons, when young, named ‘bird pudding’: discarded containers into which margarine, or other cheap spread, is melted and into which seeds are then been thoroughly mixed.
Believe me, the pleasure that the birds give me is well worth the
additions to my budget – perhaps later I can harvest the legacy of last year’s spilled seed: a ripening crop of wheat, barley and various other unidentified items near the hanging-feeder …