Natural England

Natural England

Gardening with Wildlife in Mind

The Plant Press

© 2006-2008. Database provided and managed on behalf of Natural England by The Plant Press. Designed and implemented by Ideal Integration Ltd

 

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Birds

house sparrowstarlingwaxwingring-necked parakeetTop l to r: ring-necked parakeet, waxwing; bottom l to r: starling, house sparrow
Top l to r: ring-necked parakeet, waxwing; bottom l to r: starling, house sparrowTop l to r: ring-necked parakeet, waxwing; bottom l to r: starling, house sparrow
© Top l to r: Robin Chittenden www.harlequinpictures.co.uk, Paul Keene (Avico Ltd); bottom (both images): Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature

Loosely speaking, all animals need areas to rest, nest, breed and feed. Any garden can meet some of these requirements, for some bird species. The more space you have, then the greater is the potential but even very small urban gardens can be made attractive to quite a variety of different birds.

Changes in modern farming have resulted in much of the countryside becoming hostile to most wildlife. Many of our common and familiar birds, including house sparrow and starling, have suffered huge declines in numbers during the last 25 years. No doubt these declines could have been still more severe, without the efforts made by householders not just to feed wild birds but to provide them with artificial nesting sites. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has shown that bird feeding increased by a factor of five in the 15 years to 2003, while a recent poll for the Royal Horticultural Society revealed that 51% of gardeners made some effort to feed birds.

Artificial feeding is helpful but a longer-term solution is to select plants which will provide food for birds either directly (in the form of berries and fruits for example) or indirectly, by attracting insects and other invertebrates on which some adult birds feed and on which almost all bird species feed their young.

Among the most useful species for birds are those that offer both food and nesting sites, like hawthorn, blackthorn, elder and ivy. Even a very small body of permanent water like that provided by a sunken bucket will also make a positive and substantial difference.

Recording the birds in your garden through schemes such as the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch and the BTO's more detailed Garden BirdWatch produces invaluable information that can lead to improvements in conservation measures. For details see web> the RSPB and web> BTO websites.

As birds eat a vast range of vegetable and animal matter, it would be meaningless to include all the plants and animal species connected to all birds in this database. Instead, the relationships section for this generic group is merely indicative.

Plants

Common nettle, Elder, Hawthorn, Honeysuckle, Ivy

Prey

Ants, Aphids, Beetles, Bugs, Mosquitoes and midges, Moths, Slugs and snails, Worms