Birds at breaking point - RSPB urges people to start leaving feed out doors
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have to day issued a warning that Britains birds are suffering a major crisis due to weather as food becomes harder to find.
The public are urged to feed to leave food for birds outdoors were they can as the harsh winter could hit bird numbers "for many years to come".
"The extremely hard winter spanning 1962 and 1963 was arguably the single event that had the greatest impact on wildlife within living memory," said Mark Avery, the RSPB's conservation director.
"With the icy weather predicted to last at least another week, this winter could be the single greatest wildlife killer of the new millennium."
Dr Avery said that recent conservation measures - combined with mild winters - had seen a welcomed increase in the number of some threatened species, such as the bittern.
But he added: "Now that the barometer has swung rapidly in the other direction, some species face a crisis, forcing us to take immediate action."
The freezing weather means that gardens have become havens for wildlife, it adds, as birds and animals are forced to venture further afield in the search of food.
Regulars to West Portlake, Bathpool are urged to do their bit as waders such as duck, geese and swans can ill afford to waste energy trying to find food.
So the message is, if you can afford bird seed, buy some. If you leave your crusts leave it for the birds. If you can give up a round of bread, break it up into little pieces and put it in an obvious place.
The RSPB suggests using leftovers like grated cheese, porridge oats, soft frut, unsalted bacon, cooked rice and pasta and the insides of cooked potatoes.
Water is also vital for both drinking and bathing and bird baths can be kept from freezing over using small floating items like twigs or ping pong balls.
Comments
Gardens
Don't forget, it's not just the birds down at Westport Lake that are struggling - the ones round here are too. Any help you can give the birds at any time, but especially at the moment wil be rewarded by being able to watch them in your garden. Believe it or not, there is a wide variety of birds that come onto the estate, and some of them look like they belong in the tropics with their beautiful colouring
We had fun this morning
We had fun this morning making feeders out of pringle tubes.
We then nipped over to Focus to get some proper feeders just in case the birds don't like pringle flavoured bird seed.
Totally agree
We feed the birds all year round and there are some great birds around here. They even give you disgusted looks if you are a little late with the food on the table. Birds are not as daft as you think!!!
Intelligent birds
I know exactly what you mean. They know there is always food in my garden for them. And yes, they sit in the tree and demand to be fed. They seem to be increasing in numbers at the moment though - may be because they know I;m a soft touch
keeping it up
It takes a bit more effort to keep feeding the birds in this weather but it is well worth it, got quite a variety in my garden now. Bonus is that the neighbourhood cats do not seem to like being out in the snow.
Oh yes and the Blackbird with the white head that I posted pictures of last summer is still here.
I've seen him
I was wondering about him, he does pop into my garden sometimes, but he wasn't here among the 20 or so blackbirds feeding about 7.30 this morning.
I did see him down the road a couple of months ago, so figured he hadn't migrated anywhere this year.
What other birds do people get in their gardens?
I have plenty - goldfinches, chafinches, greenfinches, bullfinches, blue, great and coal tits (fleeting visit by long tailed tit's today) Robins, house sparrows, dunnocks, one wren, a thrush, and today, for the first time ever in my garden, I also saw a fieldfare.
He knew
That blackbird must have known we were talking about him yesterday - he was in the garden for his breakfast about 8 o'clock this morning lol - either that or you weren't out with the food early enough for him Steve
He has been for Lunch
Janet He has been here for a lunch of meal worms and berries. He must have a fair old territory. You seem to have a much larger range of visitors than us , but I keep on trying to encourage more .
Glad to hear it
I knew he wouldn't abandon you completely Steve
I may have more visitors just because I've been feeding them for 7 years now. I put a variety of stuff out, the goldfinches and bullfinches love sunflower hearts, so that's what''s in the feeders, rather than normal seed mix (which goes on the garden for the ground feeders)
I don't normally have as many blackbirds in, it's just because of the weather I think, same goes for the fieldfare, which I have never seen round here before.
All you can do is keep putting the food out, over time, more will find it and come into the garden
Cats GRRR
Janet, I have been feeding the birds since I moved here ,one of the first in October 2000. Unfurtunately we seem to have a plague of cats around here which I constantly do battle with. Also bit of a Magpie problem they ragged the Robins nest last spring. I think you also have the benifit of being closer to the cemetary which is great for birds also the bushes on the bank above RMW.
Has anyone else had a flock
Has anyone else had a flock of flamingos in their back garden? It's getting a bit difficult to keep them fed with shellfish due to the run on prawns over the Christmas period.
Yes
I think you could be right about the cemetary. A lot of the birds do seem to come from that direction.
We have a few cats about too, which I tend to chase out of the garden whenever I see them lol. I haven't had a nest here though, and there are magpies, though more timid than the smaller birds, I just wave at them and they fly off
Unfortunately I do think there is a sparrowhawk about too, which scares the birds away for a bit. I have seen signs that it has had birds from the garden, but not too often. (Feathers from plucked birds scattered over the garden 
)
How long does it take for birds to spot food
We only through bread out for birds, so I was wondering if anyone knows from experience how long it normally take the birds to twig that a garden has a new source of food?
I hope it doesn't take to long, as they have a really treat waiting for them.
Time
It shouldn't take too long with this weather we've got at the moment.
One thing you could do to advertise the fact is clear a patch of snow from the garden down to the grass, so any ground food you're putting out can be easily seen (maybe build another snowman with all the snow you move
), and put a bowl of water (NOT Mrs WM's best Wedgewood bowl) out for them too. If you're still working from home, you can make sure it's free of ice on a regular basis throughout the day too. 
As I think Steve is in the same general part of the estate, the birds should be used to being fed and should appear fairly quickly.
Just one thing - wait until tomorrow to clear the snow, as it's snowing again now, so you'd have to do it all again tomorrow anyway.
Habit
Birds have a habit of returning once they have found a food source. As Janet has posted if you put out a variety of food you will get a lot of different feathered visitors.
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
Well, the weather's back, so please continue to feed the birds as there's not a lot of food for them to find elsewhere. OK, so it's not as cold as it was last time it snowed, YET!
It's also the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. You don't need to be a member of the RSPB, all you need to do is spend an hour counting the birds that come into your garden and post the info on their website.
Here's the link for more information:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/
I did mine this morning, loads of birds to count
Birds
You are right, our feathered friends were sat on the washing line and outside table looking in through the window as if to say "please feed us". When I did go out they had pecked the snow of the bird table so I had somewhere to put it and done the same with the outside table.
Good excuse for a bacon butty for lunch today so they could have the rind!
Question
WM, did the birds find the food you started putting out for them during the last lot of snow? And are you still feeding them?
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