Anything For Animals

posted by admin on Jan 31

This weekend saw the annual garden bird count get underway - and I had great fun!

I chose to help with 3 counts, as I love watching the birds - and I like to practice my identification skills!  I did my garden, which is a large lawn an orchard next to a wildlife reserve in a small village, my niece’s garden which is a huge lawned garden in suburbia, and finally my friends tiny town garden that she uses to grow vegetables in.

And surprisingly, she got the most species visiting her garden!

I couldn’t believe the numbers and the types of birds she got hopping around her garden and surrounding hedges - and I only watched out the window for and hour!  She had wrens, pied wagtails, song thrushes, starlings and house sparrows, along with blackbirds, robins, crows, collared doves, wood pigeons, magpies, blue tits and seagulls!

My countryside garden did get a great spotted woodpecker, but everything else was the expected species.  Bit unfortunate really as we have seen redwings, bullfinches, partridges, long-tailed tits and even red kites in the garden over the past few weeks - yet for the survey, they all stayed away!

My nieces garden got some standard fare, but nothing that wasn’t seen in the other 2 gardens.  However, the added bonus of doing this garden was that I was able to teach her some of the names of the species we saw!  She was very interested in the count for the whole hour, and came away knowing blackbirds, magpies and wood pigeons (and that caterpillars turn into butterflies!).  Not bad for a 3 year old!

What Else Can You Do?

This survey is only done in January every year, but there are other surveys and birds counts you can get involved in throughout the year in the UK with the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) by just learning to identify the most common species native to this country.

There are no doubt surveys across other countries by their national bird-loving charities and organisations, and by joining them (usually for a few £’s or $’s a month) you may well get some books or booklets on local birds and how to identify native and migrating species.

This way - even if you don’t stand outside and count birds every year, you are helping others to do just that.  You will be funding research into common and endangered species in your country and around the world.

Now that can’t be a bad thing!

posted by admin on Jan 25

You would think this shouldn’t need to be written - but there is evidence to suggest it does!

There are plenty of dog owners out there who think that letting a dog run loose in a woodland is acceptable as well as those who think that they only need to pick up their dogs poop if it is on the pavement!

Think about the effects of your actions not about that 10 seconds in your life and the whole community could benefit.

It’s only 2 simple things - do you think you can do it?

1) Keep Your Dog Under Control!
Keeping your dog within earshot of your shouting isn’t having your dog under control! 

Having your dog under control involves not only being able to see your dog - but also being virtually 100% sure that if you call your dog to you they will come without fail!

I recently went into a woods to find a large dog chasing a roe deer - with not an owner in sight and after it got bored of that it came and found us again and followed us (dangerously) to the car park.  Still no owner in sight - or in ear shot!  They weren’t even trying to get their dog to come back!

It could have killed the deer, been stolen, been injured somewhere - or been run over right outside the car park.  Totally irresponsible!

2) Pick Up Their Poop!
There are very very very few instances where it is acceptable to leave a dog poop on the floor!  And percentage wise in respect of all the dog poos done in a day it would be about 1%.

If your dog poops anywhere that another person might walk - then you need to pick it up.  It doesn’t matter whether you are on a footpath in the middle of nowhere - it’s a footpath and other people have a right to use it and a right to have a poop free walk!

There’s no excuse that you didn’t see your dog do it, it was in the woods, you didn’t have a bag, it was a bit squidgy or whatever.  You need to be watching your dog when out on a walk and you need to be prepared.

Maybe stay around the carpark or poo bin for the first 15 minutes of your walk - as this is when your dog is most likely to ‘go’ and then you will see it and are right next to the poo bin or your car to leave the poo there and head out for your great walk.

I don’t know why some people think that it is the landowners responsibility to clear away the mess - because it isn’t.  And why should it be!

You wouldn’t leave a filled nappy on someones land or in your local park - so why would you do it with a dog poo?  Carnivore stools are not as welcome in the natural world as those of cows, horses and sheep.  Dogs poo isn’t plant fibre so decomposes in a different way - and can spread diseases to other animals and sometimes to people.

Train & Scoop - it’s easy!

posted by admin on Jan 10

Finally, the snow has all gone and the temperature is rising!

Outside of my window this morning there were 2 roe deer trekking across my garden, and out the side by the bird feeders, I saw a nice collection all feeding at the same time: 2 blue tits, 2 great tits, 2 robins, a blackbird and 4 pheasants!

It’s great to see everything still fighting their way into spring, and I am now living in a perfect rural location to witness the changes from winter.

I have already registered myself with many charities and wildlife surveys to make the most of my time here and to help with the monitoring of our native mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians and plants!

And of course, it will give me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the world I live in! 

Identifying the calls of birds and the sounds of mammals will really improve my enjoyment of the natural world - and could even help on my CV when I apply for future employment, volunteer opportunities or further education!

Great New Years Resolution don’t you think!