Keep feeding the birds!

I've recently seen my first swallows of the summer, there are chiffchaff singing seemingly everywhere and the wibbly-wobbly song of the willow warbler is starting to drift out from the trees. Colours other than brown and green are starting to appear in the woodlands and fields as flowers appear and the female hares are boxing away the overly amorous males.

So Spring is starting to coil up, but has it really sprung yet?

The short answer is no, not really. If you've been outside much recently its that period of the year where you might need your woolly hat one minute when its cloudy, but as soon as the sun pokes through its quickly removed.

As you can perhaps guess from the heading, its a tricky time for the wildlife. They are looking to get in condition to breed, for the males that can mean periods of singing and protecting a territory and/or mate from other males and for females getting in tip-top physical condition to produce eggs.

So to help the birds in and around your garden please keep feeding them, perhaps don't leave things like peanuts loose on bird tables, make sure they are in metal mesh containers so they have to be broken up, but do keep going!