Urban Bird Watching

I hear that ‘Urban Birding’ is quite popular and ‘cool’ at the moment and I think it is such a good thing that it has been featured in various television programmes and has been highlighted quite frequently in the media, as it has made so many people much more aware of our beautiful birds that are out there in abundance, not just in the country but in our towns and cities too and not only does it bring pleasure to the city dwellers who have become more aware of this, therefore noticing more birds than usual which is enough to cheer up anybody’s day on their way to work in the hustle and bustle of the morning rush hour for example, but the birds are sure to gain benefit too as there will be more of us feeding them in order to attract them into even the smallest garden and yard of our homes in the city.

After the two very cold snaps and ‘big freeze’ of 2010, it has been reported that our countryside birds, such as Woodcocks and Herons, are moving into towns and cities because food has been harder to find.  Great news for the Urban Birders amongst us.  I would say these two species are not the type of birds you would expect to see anywhere near a city.  Birds that have also been spotted are Redwings, Fieldfares and the Yellowhammers (although still in rapid decline). The simple reason for this is just that they have been desperate for food as their usual berries and seeds and also crops have been frozen over.

This is a negative for our more traditionally spotted birds such as the Tits and Wrens as they constantly require food to keep their energy levels high and with the influx of more and more birds to our city gardens, they are fighting for food so it is so important to keep on feeding all our birds via the Feeders each and every day.

At the end of the day, nature is all around us and that you don’t have to be in the middle of the countryside to see it and appreciate it,  cities and urban areas are rich with wildlife, we just need to be more aware of it and open our eyes that little bit wider.