Winter tips for bird-friendly gardens

Bakker Spalding Garden Company has released tips on making gardens bird-friendly in winter, with four points that can be targeted at customers.

Bakker Spalding reports figures from bird monitoring schemes that suggest populations of the most widespread species have dropped by around 421 million across Europe since 1980.

The tips have come from Adrian Nind, managing director at Bakker Spalding Garden Company.

Feed the birds: food can become scarce during cold weather and the RSPB reports that starlings visiting gardens in winter have dropped by 84% since the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch began. Bakker Spalding have offered their own ranges of bird food and shelter as product lines which can be marketed against this.

Allow for foraging in gardens: there are a variety of plants and trees which can attract birds to gardens and provide food throughout winter, particularly fruiting bushes.

Encourage safe habitats: bird boxes need ventilation holes and drainage holes. During the winter nest boxes should be cleared and suitable nesting materials made available in gardens for future nesters.

Keep clean water sources: alongside food, birds need access to a supply of water, not just to drink but to bathe in. Ponds provide water and attract additional wildlife.

Bakker Spalding is part of Bakker Hillegom, ?the largest gardening company in Europe?.

For more information, visit: www.spaldingbulb.co.uk