Feeding the Birds

I often throw breadcrumbs out onto the terrace outside our dining area. We love to watch the birds that come and feed from it through the French doors beside our dining table. Mostly they are blackbirds and sparrows, occasionally a robin or a thrush. And they take no notice of us sitting so near but behind glass, only flying off if we get up and walk towards them.

Our neighbours hang out birdfeeders with more apporpriate food for the tits and finches and we can also see those flitting around in the trees over the hedge. I enjoy seeing the goldfinches best of all. Yesterday several of them were chased off by a small flock of starlings who came to visit. I had thought that after they got a resident cat, the birds were staying away, but a good few have been back in recent days.

We hope to be able to make our own garden more bird friendly in time. At the moment it's looking very bleak, despite all the time we lavished on it last year. We failed to think any further than the planting for spring and summer, and I'm not very proud of it at the moment.

Along with many others, I had been concerned about the effect on the birds and other wildlife of the oil spills last year. Today I visited The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life and read a post about how people had been trying to keep some of the migrating birds away from the affected coastline. It's great that there are people employed, and those who volunteer, who are coming up with ideas and making them work. It's worth a read, so do hop over there and take a look.

Pic by Marine Photobank ar Wikimedia Commons