feeding birds in winter

[legless]

do we feed birds on allotments or is that going to cause me a lot of trouble?

[LynneA]

I do - I have comandeered the runner bean frame from the next plot to hang up my bird feeders!

The old guy a few plots down loves birds - he's got in trouble for not trimming his hawthorn tree, but so many birds nest in it he'd be in more trouble if he didn't.

There are a few older plotholders of the "if it moves kill it" variety,  but there are enough of us "working with nature"types to balance things out.

[teresa]

Hi

I feed winter and summer in the garden and find that i get no green/black or white fly on the plants the birds sort the plants out and work a lot harder cannot see why the same should not work on a lottie. This is my first four months now but no one down on our lottie does it.Like you said if it moves kill it but so less stress full to work with nature than against it. Teresa

[gavin]

I feed the birds in winter - no probs.  And they're ready, hungry, with nests and young, just as the bugs start to come.  

I also feed the foxes now - stops them feasting on my potatoes, and they still go for any rabbit daft enough to set up house.

All best - Gavin

[legless]

oh good i was hoping that was the case!  ;Dthanks for the advice

[LynneA]

The foxes have taken a liking to fruit - in particular my red gooseberries, and now there over, they're eating the brambles.  All well and good, but I hope they're still keeping the rats down.  Especially as the fruit is obviously a little bit too much for their tummies - they are leaving trails rather than the usual marking outposts!

[teresa]

Hi, what are you complaining about free manure   ha ha does it smell as bad as when they mark their spots?
I remember at home years ago you could smell a fox before you saw it .Teresa

[LynneA]

The fox on the next plot (one of this year's cubs) is cheeky.  I've seen it quite often during the day, and it stops & looks at me.  

The daftest thing that happened was one day I was standing on top of the bank at the end of my first plot, and I saw her on the new plot, about to squat on the potato patch.  I said "No, not there" and she shifted over and dealt with things in the rough grass under the brambles!

I know the foxes catch the rats - last winter we had to dispose of a couple of corpses on out plot.  I think they must have been disturbed.  I hope that this year's batch don't start acting like cats and leaving dead stuff on the doorstep as presents!