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More berries mean a hard winter - old wives tale?
Hi,
there is a theory that extra berries on the shrubs means a hard winter and nature is taking care of all the birds etc. This sounds doubtful if subjected to logical analysis anyway - my 2p theory is that more berries means a good summer, and good summers (lots of high pressure and clear skies) are often followed by hard winters (lots of high pressure and clear skies). Be that as it may: we had loads of berries on the shrubs last year - after a wonderful summer. There are still loads of berries on the shrub by our steps (cotoneaster springs to mind, but that may be the other one). I need to prune this back because it is invading the area of the steps and I do like to go down into the garden :-) However it is still loaded with red berries, and pruning back will invlove throwing away most of these berries. So; are the birds still dependant on last years berries, or will this years growth be feeding them? I know the pigeons are doing well off the buds on our plum trees. As a first stage I have cleared the top layer of growth, exposing the berries underneath. I will watch for a bit in case the birds start stripping these, but I suspect that nature has over provided in this case. Obviously I don't want to remove a valuable resource for the wild life, but how long do they depend on last years berries? TIA Dave R -- |
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