PRESS RELEASE

Monday 20 August 2007

Feed the Birds!

Cheshire Wildlife Trust has partnered with an award winning conservation farm and supplier of bird seeds, Vine House Farm, to encourage people to do more to help garden birds. The partnership is being launched now because during summer birds need additional sources of food, and with the tough season that many breeds have faced, this is especially the case this year.

The living is supposed to be easy in the summer time, but this has not been the case with rain and floods effecting people and wildlife. Fledgling chicks have particularly suffered, many drowning in the floodwaters including rare species such as the bittern and the chicks of ground-nesting birds, such as lapwings, redshanks and skylarks. Other victims have included chicks of low scrub nesters, which would include chiffchaffs, willow warblers, sedge warblers and reed buntings.

People naturally think about feeding birds in the winter, but during summer they also require a plentiful food supply. Young birds are inexperienced at feeding, so an easy food source is welcomed. Adult birds are seeking additional food sources as this is when they change their feathers, requiring lots of energy. Furthermore, gardens are often short of natural bird food, with pruning, weeding and mowing meaning they do not harbour as many insects as woods and hedgerows.

Cheshire Wildlife Trust is working with Vine House Farm in Lincolnshire to encourage the feeding of good quality seed that will provide the nutrients that birds need and that is grown in a way that is sensitive to the environment.

Allan Stubbs, from Cheshire Wildlife Trust, comments, “Vine House Farm is run as a model to conservation farming, which is why for us a partnership with Nicholas Watts and his family makes such perfect sense. It gives people the opportunity to buy bird food direct from a farm that has been managed with birds and wildlife in mind, and prioritises sustainability and ethical supply chains.”

Some of the measures that have made the work of Vine House Farm nationally recognised include the maintenance of dykes as areas of habitat, the provision of margins between fields as habitat, the planting of 2 miles of hedging which has provided refuge for nesting birds, the creation of ponds with native plant species as nesting sites and the establishment of a wild flower meadow. In these and other actions Vine House is practicing what it preaches, and as s result has recorded bird figures well above national averages. There has been much acknowledgment of this outstanding conservation work including an MBE awarded to Nichols Watts for his services to farming and conservation in January 2006.

You can order products from Vine House Farm directly through the Cheshire Wildlife Trust shop by visiting www.cheshirewildlifetrust.co.uk/shop . You’ll also find advice here on what, how and when to feed birds.

Turn bird feeding into a summer holiday activity

The summer holidays are a great time to get children involved in feeding and watching birds in the garden.

Sue Tatman, Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s gardening wildlife officer, says “Feeding garden birds and monitoring their activity can give children a real sense of responsibility and help to develop and an understanding and love of the natural environment. It is also simple and fun to do.”

You can encourage a whole host of birds to visit your garden by presenting a varied menu. Some popular choices include:

• Black sunflower seeds, which have been described as a superfood for birds, are a favourite with blackbirds, robins, the tit family, goldfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches and house sparrows.
• Peanuts also have a broad appeal, tickling the tastebuds of robins, the tit family, gold finches, chaffinches, greenfinches, house sparrows and woodpeckers.
• A menu of rolled oats will encourage blackbirds, songthrush, robins, chaffinch, and house sparrows.
• Enjoying the sweeter taste of raisins are blackbirds and songthrush.
• Finally, don’t let this year’s wet summer deceive you. A vital lifeline for birds is the drinking and bathing water that people put out in their gardens.

There are lots more tea time treats for birds, and advice on when and how to feed, on Vine House Farm’s website: www.vinehousefarm.co.uk.

Ends