Starling in a snowy garden

Brian Clews had a near record audience (60+) attending his presentation on how our birds survive the Winter.  He pin-pointed 4 factors for survival:

 1.Fecundity (Prolific breeding) – for example, a pair of Robins living for 10 years with 4 surviving young would result in 3 breeding pairs for the next Spring, etc.  Thus at the end of 10 years, with 2 surviving broods per year there would be a total of 629 856 Robins!

2. Feathers – important for insulation. Numbers ranging from 2000 on a Humming Bird to 25000 on a Mute Swan.

3. Food – birds becoming more reliant on the vast range of foods available for presentation  in the average garden. Important that this source of food continues.

4. Threat Avoidance -  

   (1) Weather, smaller birds more prone to be affected by inclement weather, heart rate of Robin is 570 beats per minute, whilst that of the Humming bird is 2000.

     (2) Predators, it has been estimated that there are about 8 million domestic cats, killing 55 million birds.  Other predators include the Fox, Grey Squirrels, Raptors, Stoats and Weasels.

     (3) Loss of habitat, perhaps the most serious threat of all with the increase of intensive farming, loss of hedgerows and ever-encroaching developments.

In conclusion, Brian asked “Our birds in Winter, how are they doing”?  His answer, “Seemingly very well”.

 A very interesting presentation full of useful information and definitely thought provoking.