Spring is the season when everything in the natural world seems to be waking up and coming back to life and May, as the final month of the season, is the crescendo! It's an incredible time of year, with many animals making the most of the resources around by rearing their young now. The ponds will have ducklings swimming about and the flowers will be buzzing with insects!
Our most abundant songbirds, such as the Robin and Blackbird may actually be on their second nests. Robin’s have several broods to keep their numbers up, as only about 40% of baby birds make it to adult hood. They live for about 2 years on average, both males and females sing and keep territories, which they will fight for against other Robins. Robin’s are known for nesting in unusual places, such as coat pockets hung up in sheds, spare tyres and cigarette bins! Thank you to the Wildlife Working Group member who recently sent this story in, about a Robin in her garden: “A few weeks ago I started to clear out leaves from an old watering can planter, to top-up ready for a spring plant. It was left for a few days, when I noticed leaves, moss etc were in situ. A robin had been around the patio so we left it all in place. She lay 4 eggs and just over a week ago they all hatched! It's literally by our back door so we've had to carry on as normal, walking past and trying to ignore her, only taking pics super quickly. It's been fantastic to see this at close quarters. She's doing a sterling job so far.” Within 2 weeks they fledged successfully!
What can you do to support these animals:
Provide food stations in your garden such as meal worms for Robins.
Leave ‘No Mow May’ areas on your lawn so that insects can thrive
Put up nesting boxes in your garden.
Leave an untidy area in your garden and sow wildflowers to support the insects that these birds eats
To find out more please visit these websites:
