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| PET GAZETTE | WILD BIRDS
GOING WILD
As the weather cools and animals prepare to hibernate, this is some of the wildlife
your customers should look forward to seeing during the autumn months
A
utumn is now well and truly underway. Trees once
covered in gold, red and bronze leaves are starting
to look a little less so. Whilst we may still have the
odd warm day, there is without doubt a cooler feel to
the air. October marks a major change in the behaviour of many
animals. The end of October sees the UK’s only mammal with spikes;
the Hedgehog, prepare itself for hibernation. Chances are that your
clients may have heard these prickly customers snuffle around their
gardens or local green patch at night seeking out juicy earthworms
and beetles. Lying dormant for such a long time is hungry work! Once
a Hedgehog enters hibernation their body temperature drops to about
10 degrees centigrade or less, and their heart rate to 20 beats per
minute. Hedgehogs are nothing but creative and build themselves the
most comfortable of nests fashioned with leaves, grass and mosses,
and once complete they curl themselves up in a ball in them and
won’t emerge until the spring. Customers may well have happened
upon such a nest, they are often found at the base of thick hedges,
under thick bramble bushes, garden sheds or piles of rubbish. If your
customers have a garden, it is best to take care when tidying this time
of year, so as not to disturb a hibernating Hedgehog.
For those worried that garden birds have been somewhat scarce
of late, they will be pleased to hear that they will soon be returning
to feed in gardens. Many customers stopped the food supply when
it was untouched but birds will begin to seek out feeders again.
Nature’s harvest can be bountiful though and, in good weather, will
last into December, so fill feeders with small amounts of food and up
the supply as the temperature goes down. The most regular visitors to
gardens, including Blackbirds, Robins, Blue Tits and House Sparrows
may well be joined by new kids on the block such as Goldfinches and
Long-tailed Tits. These latter two species use to shun gardens but
now realise what goodies they can hold and happily join the regulars.
Many also attract Woodpeckers, Jays and Bullfinches adding splashes
of colour to grey, dismal autumnal days. Most summer migrants will
be long gone but others will be heading our way for the winter. Some
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though will go largely unnoticed. We presume that the Blackbirds,
Starlings and Greenfinches, we see so regularly, are with us all year
round but many of these are not.
It wouldn’t be October without Halloween and whilst eager children
gather sweets and the like during Halloween, birds such as Magpies
and Coal Tits employ a cunning trick of their own and hoard sweet
treats such as nuts and seeds for later retrieval. Such hoards are vital
for when food is less readily available and when the weather is hostile.
Grey Squirrels do something similar. In fact, it has been suggested
that a great many oak trees are the result of forgotten acorn stashes!
Unlike elephants, squirrels clearly forget. Though blackberries will
have gone over by now, come October there will be a bumper crop
of brightly coloured fruit and berries available, much to the delight of
redwing and fieldfare, those colourful thrushes that arrive here from
Scandinavia at this time of year. Native plants such as Holly, Crab
apple and Hawthorn, if grown in your customers’ gardens will help
feed many a hungry bird once winter arrives.
October 2018