On 30/10/04 15:31, in article , "Kay"
wrote:

In article , Sacha
writes

I think the numbers are dropping off generally. Our nearest farmer is
organic in the larger part of his land but about 5 more houses have been
built in the village in the last 5 years, many of whom own cats......I can't
help wondering if this contributed to the decline, though I doubt it would
account for all of it.

We have cats, as do many of our neighbours - there's around 6 cats
regularly use our tiny garden.

I think I read somewhere that the increasing popularity of bird feeders
and reasonable quality bird food is becoming an important resource to
birds.

I don't even want to think what we spend on peanuts and bird seed each year!
All the greenhouses have feeders in them and so do various bits of the
garden. But it has to be said that the birds do a great job on the insects,
too!

Many of the smaller birds, blue tits, finches, robin, like harvesting
insects from the windows' many corners. The windows are all leaded in stone
mullions, so give a lot of 'shelter' for small flies, spiders etc.

Lovely! Our birds are too nervous to come within about 3 ft of windows -
at least when you're in a position to watch them.

We have a lot of climbers on just about every available wall space and that
might increase their confidence. There's always something for them to dive
into quickly if they feel threatened. But last year, we stuck a forked pole
in the border outside the office window and strung bags of peanuts, fat and
a bag of odds and ends to help nest-building and it was an absolute joy to
watch. The squabbling and competition was quite something to behold!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)