RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch: How to attract birds to your garden

sometimes you see something moving in the hedges you think oh hang on is it one of those and is it is it and you're lined up with our binoculars looking we'll get the guidebooks out there's just a real buzz there's a fantastic diversity of wildlife around us and we're not really aware of the sounds and the smells and you know this is the world that we live in and we should be interacting with it and connecting with it a little bit more we've been in our house for about nine years now and our species count at the moment is 63 which is I think quite good going actually the most species that we see on the feeders are your classic garden birds like the blue tit the great tips green finches great supportive wood peckers what else we get nuthatches reusable bull French this morning as well male bull French with a really big resplendent orange chest lovely a lot of these species are brightly colored they're not brown so they're really easy to spot a Robin male-bonding can you just see that red bit there there's director bird watching is a very accessible pastime there's always something to see and it's it's entertaining it's educational it's fun and it's free it's very easy to teach children maybe just five different species of garden bird why is it called a black bird because it's black and if you've taught your children five they'll want to learn about another five if you want to encourage birds into your gone all you need to do is put out your bird feeders and Tevan topped up every single day it's a very easy meal for them if they're coming to your feeders either there is it's like a take away the nyjah see the very fine small black seed will attract things like gold finches and then we've got some flower seeds and peanuts and that'll bring in a lot of different species fat balls are quite popular now but if you want to make your own it's so easy and really really cheap so you just get a lump of lard you get a mixture of seeds you can put all sorts of things in it like sunflower hearts and mill it melt the lard mix it all up squidge it into a yogurt pot with a bit of string in it or I used half a coconut shell put it in the fridge or let it set for 10 minutes half an hour and then hang it out and that is really energy rich food for the bird we've cited our feed is quite close to some dense shrubs and hedge because a lot of the birds they want to sit somewhere that feels secure come in grab some food and then retreat away they don't hang around on the feeders they'd rather be somewhere a bit more protected try put feeders where you can see them I've got this great spot where I'm washing up and I can see the bird feeders and I'm watching them all the time you need to have a little scruffy bit of your garden where there are a few weeds maybe a little pile of logs or twigs or something like that that makes for a lot of insect life and there are many many bird species that feed on insects the more areas and more different habitats you've got the more diverse a wildlife that you'll have in your garden the thing about birds is they're ubiquitous they are absolutely everywhere if you look out your bedroom window you Poissy about if you look out of your office window you see a bird if you're driving to work you will see Birds they're a really good way into getting people connected with nature if you get people bird-watching they'll be hooked for life

Channel: The Guardian

Views: 85,429

Rating: 4.8368497 out of 5

Keywords: RSPB big garden birdwatch, RSPB, birdwatch, big garden, twitching, birdwatching, how to attract birds, your garden, largest surveys, birdlife, miranda krestovnikoff, natural history, tv presenter, coast, springwatch, beginner's guide, garden birdlife, may contain nuts, royal society for the protection of birds, bird watching, the guardian, theguardian, guardian

Id: 2rAAMtSIwmQ

Length: 3min 41sec (221 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 27 2014