Snow Joke

Well, what an eventful few days we've had. We missed the first batch of snow down here in the South East but we well and truly got hit last night! I'd been quite disappointed with our measly flakes of snow this week but I couldn't complain this morning - we probably had about 3/4 inches - doesn't sound like much but for London that is pretty good :-)

Of course + snow = - trains! So both the gardeners were at home today. Had a lovely walk in a snow covered Greenwich Park at lunchtime but spent most of the day snug and warm at home.

So whilst you're toasting your toes by the fire give a little thought to the birdies and wildlife out there. They need your help - make sure you top up your feeders and put out fresh water. I've been clearing away the snow in the morning and laying down seed for the ground feeders – blackbirds, robins etc (although the pigeons are having more than their share...)

Peanuts are great and sunflowers seeds too – but if you don't want to shell out left-overs are just as good – high fat is best so cake, biscuits, cheese is a great one - our birds have had Parmesan this week (albeit an out of date one but nevertheless, only the best for the SE10 birds!)

RSPB – "Wildlife in Crisis"

With the extreme cold weather looking like it's going to continue for another week or so our wildlife is really suffering. The RSPB have launched emergency action to help our birds survive the cold snap. Here's the four point plant.

1) The RSPB is organizing emergency feeding of several threatened birds at locations across the UK. Species being helped with this direct action include: bitterns and cirl buntings – all threatened species vulnerable to the impacts of extreme cold

2) The Society along with other organisations, including the British Trust for Ornithology, Natural England and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, is urging the public not to disturb flocks of wetland birds, including ducks, geese, swans and wading birds. Disturbance causes these birds to expend energy they cannot replace, pushing them to the brink.

3) Britain’s gardens are an increasingly important refuge for several species of threatened species, especially during icy conditions. Several red list birds use gardens regularly in winter, including house sparrow, starling and song thrush. The icy weather will bring further red-list birds to gardens, including redpolls, yellowhammers and tree sparrows. To help these birds the RSPB is urging as many people as possible to feed garden birds.

4) The Society is urging Britain’s farmers to spare a thought for threatened birds, such as corn buntings and yellowhammers, on their land by putting out supplementary food, especially in the form of grain tailings or residue’s from last year’s crops.

You can read the full RSPB article here.