Gardening For Birdwatchers
With some 10% of available land area of the UK being made up of private gardens, this is a vast resource and the most important potential nature reserve in the country. Some birds, such as House sparrow, collared dove and starling, actually appear to prefer urban areas over rural situations.
Gardening for birdwatchers is written by the British Trust for Ornitholgy, people who know a few things about birds. There are other books about wildlife gardening, but this takes the genre a step further. And while the ultimatre aim is to attract birds to your garden, a healthy garden that includes good populations of insects, worms, and a wide variety of plants is essential.
Ponds, meadows, patios et al.
Another aspect of the book is that it recognises that not everyone has the same size and shape of garden, or the same type of soils. Nor does everyone want to attract the same birds, so there is advice on what different birds will be attracted by different plants and features. The overriding principal is that a healthy garden ecosystem with a mix of plants and habitats will attract the widest variety of birds, as well as insects and other wildlife.
There is guidelines for wildflower meadows, ponds, walled gardens, courtyards, shady gardens, borders, lawns and even advice on how to create chalk mound to create a tiny patch of chalk downland.
How to buy the book.
Other topics covered
- Which birds like which seeds and plants
- What sort of nest boxes are needed for different species
- How to avoid predation by cats and sparrowhawks
- How to avoid diseases
- How to attract insects
- Encourage decay
- When and how birds use gardens
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