I was chatting to the local farm manager the other day, out on the snow-lined track. “There’s nothing in the hedgerows for the birds” he told me. It made me glad that there was in my garden, which borders the track and fields. It also brought home such a startling truth: the birds need us and we need to garden for them, and that means for the whole food-chain.
The picture shows a Robin; but they don’t eat the berries; Blackbirds and Thrushes do, at least around here. I’ve been wondering why, since the berries were first produced in Autumn, they hadn’t been eaten; perhaps they were saving them for harder times, maybe it is not their favourite, but it is there, they are eating them and so surviving. I’m so glad that a planting choice I have made has made a tangible difference to the birds. Although native, Guelder Rose does not naturally grow on the south coast, so perhaps they simply hadn’t discovered the fruit – but they have now and the bushes are almost bare. To me, this is the best reason to garden for wildlife; the simple rewards are better than almost anything I can think of…