Helen Bonnick, our AHS Librarian, gave a fascinating talk at the April AHS meeting on Creating a Garden for Birds.
She talked to us about how her garden had developed through the years to meet the needs of a growing family, and how over the last twenty five years she has re-ordered her garden with a mixture of planting, a pond, high hedges and places to sit – it is, as she said, her happy place.
She showed pictures of birds that come to her garden: starlings, wood pigeons, sparrowhawks, woodpeckers, parakeets & tits. An aerial view of Aldersbrook showed how green our part of London is, with green corridors which encourage wildlife. She outlined the different theories that account for the arrival of parakeets. Most importantly, she explained the great benefits of birds in your garden. There is much research showing that gardening has a restorative effect, and listening to birdsong is an added bonus. Just take time to look and listen! Birds also control pests by eating invertebrates, slugs and snails.
To attract birds, it is important to develop a healthy garden with food, shelter, healthy soil, a place to nest & good surfaces. She stressed the importance of mixed planting, planting through the year and successional planting. She said how lucky we are to have the opportunity through our AHS to buy locally raised plants and swap seeds. Helen showed us pictures of her log pile and other ways to attract wildlife, such as a dead hedge, chop & drop, and encouraged us to plant trees even if our gardens are small. She reminded us that roses support about 200 different insects and baby blue tits need to eat 100 caterpillars a day! Teasels and sunflowers are good plants that provide seeds and shrubs & trees like Yew, Cherry, Privet & Elder will support birds.
Helen echoed recent news items about the spread of disease through the use of bird feeders, which must be kept clean. There has been a 66% decline in goldfinches & a 40% decline in chaffinches due to disease. Bird feeders should definitely not be used between May & October when birds should find food in the garden.
Helen recommended doing more research to find out which plants to plant to attract birds and good designs of bird boxes. She also recommended using the Merlin App to identify bird song. Here’s to even more birds using our gardens.
