Feed the Birds

Spare a thought for the birds during this very cold weather, when the ground is hard as iron and every pond in Ashtead is frozen over. Putting out food for them can literally be a life saver, but it can also be very rewarding in the number of different species you can attract. Bread, scraps, fat and fruit, apples especially, are good for robins, blackbirds, chaffinches, dunnocks, redwings and fieldfares. Bird feeders filled with peanuts or proprietary seed mixtures can bring in titmice, nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers, and if you use nyger seed you might see goldfinches, greenfinches and even siskins. Keeping birds supplied with fresh water is arguably even more important, not just for them to drink but also for bathing, to keep their plumage in good condition to insulate them against the cold.

First intimations of the dawn chorus – a skylark singing a few exploratory notes high above the Woodfield within earshot of Ashtead Station, and one or two song thrushes singing for the first time since last summer, soon to be joined by blackbirds, which are among the best songsters of all. Robins are among the few birds which sing all year round and are now doing so all day long – the sweetest of sounds. Listen out, too, for wrens, dunnocks and the strident ‘tee-cher’ call of the great tit. If the dawn chorus has started, can spring be far behind …