16 AMATEUR GARDENING 13 JULY 2019A bumper year
I
T’S been a bit windy in our
Gloucestershire village of Cold
Aston. It often is, and when the wind
blows, the niger-seed feeder rocks
about and the fine seeds end up on the
ground – should the finches have left
any! Goldfinches seem to love niger
seed and the other day, when I opened
the door, I put up a flock of about 40.
That’s more than a charm of goldfinches- it’s more like a rain cloud!
I’m delighted to say I have had a
family of greenfinches roosting on
the sunflower seeds as well. They’re
quite sedentary birds and the other day
the Best Beloved saw one youngster
disappear into the claws of a fast-flying
sparrowhawk, quicker than you could sip
tea. It reminded me of a hobby that used
to pluck one sparrow a day, around
lunchtime, from a low roof near my old
house in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire.
I haven’t seen a family of
greenfinches for some time, because
they’ve been affected by a disease
caused by a parasite called Trichomonas
gallinae. Numbers of greenfinches
began to fall in 2006, but it has also
affected chaffinches and has been
found in house sparrows, dunnocks,
great tits and siskins.
It looks like 2019 could be a great year for
greenfinches, voles and red mason bees, says ValIn previous years, we’ve seen
greenfinches that are clearly infected
and barely moving. Their feathers are
fluffed up, so this disease is sometimes
called fat finch disease. The advice
from the RSPB is to make sure that bird
feeders are clean and they recommend
a 5% solution of bleach. Feeders need
rinsing and they must be dry before
being refilled. Feeders should also be
moved around to prevent contamination
on the ground. If you see a lot of sick
birds, the RSPB’s advice is to stop
feeding. Having a spare feeder helps
because they’re not easy things to clean.
It’s obviously a field vole year here
because we’ve had one audacious
vole to-ing and fro-ing right in front of
us, carrying spare seeds away to feed
its young. Voles have good years and
bad, and every four years or so the
population peaks. Numbers can increase
tenfold, which is good news for owls and
other predators. Females will give birth to
four or five litters a year and they’re our
most common small mammal.
Voles don’t hibernate, but simply
develop a thicker, darker coat in winter.
They feed mainly on grass and, when
the mini-meadow is cut in September,
the vole runs are clearly visible. TheirTIP
You can make your own
insect home by filling
an old tin can or pipe with short
lengths of cane, and placing the
canes vertically inside the can so
their hollow insides are visible.almost-rectangular bodies, blunt noses
and short tails are very distinctive.
It’s also been a bumper year for
our red mason bees housed on the
south-facing wall. Last year was too hot
and we only had 11 filled tubes. Another
year, I think they defected to a nearby
field of rape. This year, we’ve had plenty
of red mason bees and at the last count
we had 50 capped tubes – and they
could go on until the end of August.
These are the orange-coloured bees
that inhabit old masonry.
We are bee guardians and our filled
tubes get sent back. New cocoons are
sent to us for free in the following spring
and we are always told how many bees
we’ve raised. You can buy your own
mason bee kits from masonbees.
co.uk. These bees are really good
pollinators and they don’t sting.“Numbers of
greenfi nches began
to fall in 2006”
Make an insect home using
canes to fi ll an old pipe or tin canGreenfi nches have been
aff ected by a parasite
called Trichomonas
gallinae, so make sure
feeders are cleanGardening We ek
with Val Bourne, AG’s organic wildlife expert
All photography Alamy, unless otherwise credited
British Trust for Ornithology
It looks like 2019 could be a great year for
Red mason bees fi ll the nesting tubes
with larvae and cap the ends with mudEvery four years or so the vole
population peaks – which is good
news for owls and other predatorsVal Bourne