Autumn at Yew Court

Here at Yew Court the summer has drawn to close and autumn is here. There weather is turning cooler, although we are still having some sunshine during the day. One of the things I love to do is feeding wild birds in the garden.

I love to watch the different variety of wild birds in the garden. We normally have blackbirds, starlings, sparrows, doves, robins, green finches, blue tits, great tits and cole tits. Also the occasional wood pigeon and sometimes a magpie. The magpies don't often come into the back garden, although I have noticed a few in the front garden.

Just lately we have began putting high energy fat balls out for the birds as well as the usual bird seed and nuts etc. The small birds really enjoy the fat balls, especially the blue tits and great tits. We normally put the fat balls in a cluster of 3 so they are easy for the birds to land on.

We have also had a young starling land on the fat balls to eat them. They are a bit on the large size but they usually manage ok. I really like starlings, they are so comical. This year we have had a family of starlings come to the garden for food. They usually come in a gang of about 7 or 6 youngsters. They strut around the lawn looking for insects after the rain and they also love to bathe in the water containers we have around the garden. They are very entertaining to watch.

I think feeding wild garden birds all year round is very important, especially during the harsh winter months when live food is scarce. I feel very privileged to have so many beautiful wild birds come and visit my garden.