Carrots and Kids

Bird Feeding The Easy Way

 I really want to encourage more birds into the garden. I have tried, and failed, to entice goldfinches and during the recent snow we made sure the birds had food.

It may be a sign of ageing, but it is fascinating watching them. If funds permitted, I'd treat them to meal worms and things that wriggle but that may have to wait awhile.

Fat balls are easy to make, and I have some lard in the fridge (it's super cheap) so that I can whip up a few flower pot shaped ones if and when the desire strikes.

It's something I wanted to do at gardening club but have been put off, unsurprisingly, by the hot fat element. But last term we did make some bird food -- the easy way.

I toasted some slices of bread at home and made a hole at the top with a straw. At school the children then slathered the bread in peanut butter and pressed birdseed onto it. We then hung it on the branches where it disappeared into, I'm hoping, some feathered tums.

Gardeners Aren't Nature-Blind

Middle age has crept up on me and got me in a vice-like grip. I cut recipes out of papers, can't go far without knowing where I'll get a decent cup of coffee and I read snippets out of the paper to my disinterested audience (usually the three-year-old).

Although I haven't got so far as to actually post an article to someone, I figure this is the next best thing - posting it here. And y'know, I've just got to. I was so taken with this teeny article, ostensibly about winners of a photographic competition, that I wanted to share.

The British Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been chosen (won for a wonderful picture of a silhouetted damselfly that is breathtaking) but the author, Simon Barnes, talks about how looking at nature closely, like in these photos, can change the way you look at the world and, I'd imagine, life.

"Once you have been cured of nature-blindness - once you have become nature-sighted - then you really do become incapable of seeing things in the same way again," he wrote.

And I thought, well gardeners are totally nature-sighted. It's a gift I feel sowing seeds, and nurturing them so they in turn nurture me, has been given to me.  And it's one that was totally unexpected.

I feel so much more in tune with the seasons, and really revel and enjoy those couple of weeks when you sense the seasons change, when there's a difference in the air.

And it's something that's new to me. Obviously I noticed the seasons before I got into gardening but I notice it so much more now, more deeply, more sensitively. And I think having a camera within fingertip distance much of the time probably helps with that too.

"And this sense of delight is not a secret: it is something that the nature-sighted long to share: Look! Look! Here is wonder and beauty and truth, if you but knew it!" writes Barnes.

And that's exactly how I, and no doubt everyone who gardens, feels too.

Some New Residents

We have a large bush that's really a mini tree by the back door. It is large because we have just let it grow. And grow. Much of the garden is "mature" based on this gardening policy.

I haven't liked to trim it too much nor chop it down because it gives us a lot of privacy from next door. But most importantly, it always seems to be home to a feathered family.

Last year it was the thrush we enjoyed watching, and waiting and rearing. We thought they might come back and reuse the nest. But no, this late spring we watched a pigeon pair move into The Bush and start their own self-build.

It was fascinating to watch. To see if they could really manage to carry the twig that was twice their size to their nest. They made it. We weren't sure though if their young would. We had a pair, not sure if they were the same ones, who made a shaky nest in a proper tree last year and their eggs fell out.

But we were wrong! This year they've managed to raise two squabs. And yes, I am thinking they are the same pair, don't spoil it for me. I'm not sure when they're going to take off but they look quite big to still be in the nest. Much like a lot of humans today.

* Obviously some birds like our garden. And the goldfinch? 'Nuff said. Although this lady's obviously having no trouble. Maybe goldfinch are less fussy in America. But I'm planning on making our garden more goldfinch  bird friendly. Oh yes. I like a challenge.

Charming Goldfinches

I am hoping to entice something very special into our garden (and no, it's not a designer though I'm tempted). Goldfinches are what I'm after although I think I may be a little ambitious. I'm greedy too, I don't just want one I want lots - a charm of goldfinches.

Now, at the risk of ruining my image as young and with it, I picked up this idea from listening to Sarah Kennedy's early morning Radio Two show.

Her listeners have been emailing in with tales of golden birds at their feeders all thanks to the niger seed they have been leaving out. A bit sprinkled onto the ground, some in a feeder, a bit of patience and lo! There they are.

The only thing I'm short of is the patience. I bought the thistle and niger seed (very small and black) and a special feeder to put it in this morning and have hung it on a tree in the garden in full view, of course, of the kitchen table.

I even sprinkled some on the ground although how they will ever see the black seed on the mud I'll never know. How they even know the seed is there in the first place is a mystery. Do birds stalk gardens? Watching for kindly householders to hang up a fat ball or two? Or do they have special feathered patrols ready to sound the alert a bit like the dogs on 101 Dalmatians?

I shall never know. But within half an hour of hanging up the feeder I saw a sparrow and a blue tit investigating. I don't mind blue tits, at least they're colourful, but the thought of hoards of sparrows feeding deflates me a bit. I don't to sound snobby about garden birds but, really, I bought the niger seed for goldfinches.

Still, sounding like Tesco now, every little bit helps I suppose. And garden birds, even of the common and not terribly pretty variety, are better than no birds at all.

Nest Building

Gardening is more than just sprinkling a few seeds onto a pot of compost and waiting. Sometimes I forget that it's to do with the environment, ours' and the planet's, helping, encouraging and sharing our small patch of earth with animals, insects and birds.

Remembering to do this in the winter isn't hard but come spring my mind becomes focused less on the wildlife and more on my plates and vases as I dream of what I'm going to grow where.

My plans to visit the allotment with the little two were put on hold today thanks to an eight-year-old and a stomach bug so we were confined to base.

Sometimes when you slow down you get ideas or remember something you had planned to do. My mind is full of ideas that never quite make it onto a To Do List but still haunt me. Today one of those actually bubbled to the surface and became a reality.

The poorly girl and her sister sat at the table and cut up lengths of brightly coloured wool to fill an orange net that once held clementines (the two-year-old was too busy in the garden). Toy stuffing was also pulled from a never-ending bag and used too.

Last year we were delighted to watch a thrush build her nest right outside our kitchen, giving us a ring-side seat during meals. We saw her fetch endless twigs and forage for moss on the lawn. We saw her bring food for her brood and we watched them stretch their wings and leave the nest. It was wonderful and compelling.

I strung our colourful ball of nest building materials on a nearby tree, in the hope that she will return. It's a bit of a thank you too, from us to her.