Birds cheer up the winter garden with their aeronautic displays, flibbertigibbet antics and squabbles . . . reward them with some careful feeding, writes Jane Powers
Tidy gardeners have been snicking away at their borders all summer long, deftly removing the spent flower heads and keeping everything all nice and shipshape.
Well, that's just fine, but it's a good idea to lay off the secateurs now and to let some of the herbaceous stuff go to seed. Such dishevelment might have some gardeners' fingers itching to be snipping again, but those dead flowers are valuable food resources for birds. They supply seeds to nourish finches and other seed-eaters, and they also offer hidey-holes for overwintering insects, which become protein-rich meals for blue tits and their relatives.
Birds cheer up the winter garden enormously, with their aeronautic displays, flibbertigibbet antics and boisterous squabbles. There may not be a lot of activity on the floral front during the chilly months, but the avian soap opera more than compensates.
Of course, a garden full of flying creatures is endlessly entertaining, but it is also a better balanced and more wholesome space. Birds are part of nature's hierarchy of fauna, keeping the numbers of insects and other creepy crawlies at acceptable levels, and - although we hate to think too much about it - providing meals for larger animals, including other predatory birds and foxes. Or you could view it another way: lots of birds indicate that there are lots of invertebrates, which in turn mean that there is a busy and lively soil, which supports healthier plant growth, which leads to a happier gardener.
Gardens have become important environments for our feathery friends, now that development, intensive agriculture, deforestation and pollution are threatening and even destroying their natural habitats. Our domestic patches are the main sources of food and accommodation for many of these airborne earthlings. So we're doing the decent thing by making our terrain more welcoming.
The bird-friendly garden tends to be a more relaxed space, where some flowers are let go to seed and things are a little less manicured (good news for lazy gardeners). This doesn't mean that you should let the lawn grow into a prairie: shorter grass actually makes good worm- and grub-hunting territory for thrushes and blackbirds. But a certain amount of shagginess around the edges of your domain provides the right environment for caterpillars, aphids, woodlice and the other small things that are essential food for birds - especially fast-growing baby chicks. Leave some long grass here and there, and don't be in a rush to clear away fallen leaves. But don't let them lie on the lawn, where they can smother growth. Instead, you could transfer them to the ground underneath shrubs, where they protect the soil, and make a congenial home for many kinds of invertebrates.
Food is the most pressing requirement for birds, and while it can be supplied via feeders and on the bird table (see panel), it is nature's bounty that provides a more balanced diet - in the form of bugs, seeds and fruits. Many of the plants that are attractive to bees and butterflies are also of benefit to birds. This is no coincidence, as the insects have pollinated them while drinking their nectar, and thus helped them to bear fruit or seed.
Plants with strong stems that don't turn to mush early in winter are excellent provender. Obvious candidates are those which have stately skeletons: artichoke, sunflower, teasel (beloved of goldfinches), phlomis and verbascum. But equally attractive are more modest species such as achillea, agastache and evening primrose. The much-maligned thistle and nettle are also sterling bird plants.
Berries are superb fuel: almost all red fruits are attractive to birds, except for those of skimmia. Orange and yellow fruits are less appealing, and are recommended for mean-spirited gardeners who want their berries on branches, instead of inside birds. Nonetheless they may well be eaten when all the red ones have run out. If you're planting for birds, these fruiting shrubs and trees are good choices: cotoneaster, pyracantha, crab apple, hawthorn, sorbus, elder, berberis, holly.
Ivy supplies black, shiny berries.It also gives excellent cover, another necessity of life when you're a bird - for nesting, roosting, sheltering from the elements, or keeping a wary eye out for bigger animals that might eat you. Evergreens are a safe haven in wet and cold winter weather, while prickly shrubs offer sanctuary from cats. Felines, it should be said, are assiduous killers of wild birds, and being domestic animals, they are not part of the natural hierarchy of who eats whom. According to a survey carried out by the British Mammal Society, cats wearing bells on their collars do not kill fewer birds (although bells do help decrease mammal deaths).
Another surprise revealed by the same survey is that fewer birds (although a greater number of species) are killed in gardens where bird food is provided - presumably because there is safety in numbers.
Which brings me to trees: besides acting as larders and shelters, trees also serve as lookout points and song posts. Every bird-friendly garden should have at least one, as well as a mixture of shrubs, herbaceous perennials and grasses: aim for diversity, rather than monoculture. And don't forget to provide water, for drinking and bathing. A garden pond (with stepped sides, for easy access) will bring in the flying visitors. But you don't have to be that fancy. Birds don't mind, as long as they can bathe safely in shallow water. Even a container such as a plant saucer can become a well-used avian paddling pool.