Attracting wild birds to our garden

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I am a real nature lover and one thing I really love and appreciate about where we live now, having moved almost four years ago, is the fact we are surrounded by wildlife. We live on an estate but bordered by some fields, a farm, and not too far from a Woodland Trust site, so we are very fortunate to have nature on our doorstep - and often in our garden too!

A couple of summers ago, we welcomed a family of blackbirds to our garden; they nested in a bush to the side of our garden, and we delighted in spotting Mr and Mrs Blackbird flying in and out every day, first nesting and then looking after the eggs, before they hatched and the chicks needed feeding around the clock. We were careful not to disturb them, but wanted to keep a close eye on them as we have two cats and I didn't want the fledglings to be caught.

This is Tufty - one of our baby blackbirds two summers ago!

We were excited to see the blackbirds return earlier this summer (we like to think it is the same family, or one of the young ones returning now it's grown!) and did our best to keep an eye on them until the fledglings were ready to leave.

I think I have caught the birdwatching bug from my Dad, as he used to keep all sorts of birds in an aviary at my childhood home, and I love looking out for the sparrows and even sparrowhawks that we can often see near our house.

With birds and sometimes hedgehogs stopping by for a visit, and wild rabbits close to us too, I was keen to see what we could do to make our garden attractive to creatures great and small. I delight in seeing them and my boys do too, and they like to learn about the natural world. I did some research on what kind of feed to buy and what feeders are best. 

If you want to attract nature into your garden, you can buy food for wild birds so you create a welcoming environment and before too long, with a bit of luck, you'll have winged friends flying in and out every day.

It is important to be mindful of what you put out, so you do no harm, and I think it is important we do what we can to help wild birds and other animals to ensure they can thrive.