http://www.birdguides.com/birdwatch Birdwatch•October 2017 71
EXPERT ADVICE NEWS • LISTCHECK • BUILDING KNOWLEDGE
SUNDAY HIGH TIDES IN OCTOBER Full moon date is Thursday 5 October
Feeding time
NOW is the time to start putting
out food for your garden birds.
During spring and summer there
is plenty of natural food available
and so birds often abandon
feeders. But as autumn and winter
draw in, you may find your bird
table becomes popular again.
The colder weather and shorter
days of autumn and winter mean
that supplemental feeding is of
utmost importance, so remember
to keep your feeders topped up
with a variety of foods. (See pages
32-35 for advice on keeping your
feeding station clean, and much
more besides.)
During colder weather, birds
use energy while asleep, simply
staying alive and keeping warm.
In doing so they lose weight
overnight, and in autumn and
winter this can be a huge problem
as they may lose all the fat they
have accumulated during the day.
As the act of feeding also uses
energy, many birds spend most
daylight hours in winter finding
food; any distraction from this
routine could be fatal. As soon
as a bird is unable to recover its
night-time energy loss during the
day it is on the road to starvation.
Roosting places are chosen
to provide as much warmth
and shelter as possible. Small
birds lose heat most quickly; for
example, a Wren, which weighs
about 10g, may lose 10 per cent
of its body weight over a winter
night. This is why in the coldest
weather, Wrens will frequently
roost huddled together in a small
space, sometimes 50 or more.
Studies have shown that CoalTits spend about 80 per cent of
their time feeding in autumn and
that this increases to almost
the whole day in mid-winter. Blue
and Great Tits spend a smaller
proportion of their time feeding
because their larger body size
means they lose less energy
overnight. Goldcrest, the smallest
of our wintering birds, has to
spend the whole of a winter day
foraging for food.
Some waders on estuaries
spend 95 per cent of their time
feeding during winter, which
suggests that they are near the
limit of their food supplies and if
they exceed this limit then they
either have to move or starve.
Studies of Northern Lapwings
have shown that they may not
always be able to obtain sufficient
food during daylight hours,
especially when competing gulls
are present, meaning they are
forced to feed at night as well in
order to survive.
Some birds solve the problem
of searching for food by storing it
away in advance. Caches of seeds
and nuts may be hidden away by
tits, Nuthatches and Jays so they
can spend less time searching for
food while their larder lasts.
When supplemental food is
available, making feeding easy,
birds are most actively feeding
from dawn, slackening off later in
the day and then increasing again
towards dusk. This is thought to
be the basic pattern when food
is plentiful. Having lots to eat
gives birds time to rest and also
to spend more time watching for
predators. ■Natural food will get scarcer as autumn progresses, so now is a good
time to stock your garden feeders to attract such species as Great Tit.WIL LEURS (WWW.AGAMI.NL)Exe Estuary (Starcross) 03.34 09.14 03.29 09.05 00.17
Devon 16.07 21.34 16.01 21.21 12.43
Poole Harbour (town quay) 07.32 11.25 07.07 11.07 05.18
Dorset 19.21 23.41 19.04 23.22 16.41
Langstone Harbour (Northney) 09.08 01.44 08.57 01.41 06.02
Hampshire 21.31 14.04 21.24 13.55 18.29
Thames Estuary (Sheerness) 09.31 02.51 09.24 02.41 06.31
Kent 22.11 15.10 22.09 14.55 19.18
London Bridge 10.38 04.09 10.33 04.00 07.38
Greater London 23.21 16.28 23.20 16.14 20.24
Colne Estuary (Wivenhoe) 09.16 02.25 09.07 02.16 06.09
Essex 21.54 14.43 21.50 14.29 18.55
Blakeney Harbour 04.01 08.52 03.42 09.21 00.53
Norfolk 16.37 21.15 16.23 21.41 13.40
Hunstanton 03.30 08.36 03.13 08.29 00.09
Norfolk 16.17 21.01 16.06 20.47 13.10
Blacktoft 03.57 09.01 03.40 08.54 00.51
Yorkshire 15.36 21.24 16.23 21.12 13.39Teesmouth 00.45 05.52 00.27 05.42 10.32
Durham/Yorkshire 13.32 18.17 13.21 18.00 22.47
Holy Island 11.56 04.42 11.46 04.34 08.49
Northumberland – 17.03 – 16.49 21.14
Firth of Forth (Cockenzie) – 05.02 – 04.47 09.21
Lothian 12.24 17.26 12.15 17.05 21.37
Morecambe Bay 08.51 01.21 08.37 01.13 05.45
Lancashire 21.14 13.43 21.03 13.30 18.16
Dee Estuary (Hilbre) 08.33 00.54 08.18 00.49 05.27
Cheshire 20.54 13.17 20.42 13.06 17.56
Loughor Estuary (Burry Port) 03.43 08.35 03.26 08.24 06.51
Carmarthenshire 16.11 20.56 15.58 20.40 19.36
Severn Estuary (Berkeley) 05.02 10.13 04.48 10.06 01.49
Gloucestershire 17.36 22.35 17.25 22.23 14.25
Belfast 08.29 01.09 08.20 01.02 05.39
Co Down 20.43 13.34 20.34 13.22 17.51
Dublin (North Wall) 09.10 01.48 09.02 01.36 06.17
Co Dublin 21.24 14.12 21.18 13.54 18.311st 8th 15th 22nd 29th 1st 8th 15th 22nd 29thBUILDING KNOWLEDGE
1710 p65-71 Expert advice v4.indd 71 14/09/2017 17:45:51