What a change in the weather over the last few weeks, my camouflage underwear is now in constant use, keeping the shop warm as well as spic and spam is no easy task. What with doing the vacuuming, dusting and all the general cleaning I find getting over the hide for an hour or two harder and harder. This very cold spell does mean that our garden birds will be onto our feeders in much larger numbers, suet as well as seeds and peanuts will be gobbled up by our avian friends. Making sure our bird baths are kept clean and full is another vital little job to be done at this time.

For the whole of November we are again holding our Nest Box Sale, up to 50% OFF our already very competitive prices on selected nesting homes for our needy birds. Having this sale in November helps in many ways; nest boxes can be a super Christmas present, erecting them in your gardens earlier not only allows the birds to get accustomed to their positions it also gives them the option of using them as night roosts during the very cold spells that are forecast for the coming months. With such birds as the tiny Wren this is a vital survival strategy, many thousands of our little garden friends perish when temperatures hit freezing point, so do pop in and take advantage of these great offers. As always to newsletter subscribers this offer is available from now!

Joe and I have selected the winning entries to our August photo competition. Joe picked this superb Robin picture by Chris Dawson, he chose it for many reasons; composition, depth of field, sharpness plus the low angle drawing you in to the birds eye line completing an overall high quality finished photograph. I chose this Grey Heron shot from John Robson 'cos I liked it. While I am on about photos we have received some cracking shots recently that Joe has put in our gallery, remember you can mail your photographs to us at info@featherswildbirdcare.co.uk or if you are on Facebook you can also post them on Feathers Facebook Page.

The big wicked wolf was taking little red riding hood into the dark, spooky forest. "I'm frightened" said little red riding hood, " YOU'RE frightened?!" said the wolf "I have to walk back by myself!"

Allan

Birds of a Feather

Well another month has almost passed and Christmas is now looming! Activity on the feeders here has certainly increased with the colder weather as expected but we're nowhere near peak season yet! To think at the start of the month we saw record high temperatures and only 3 weeks on the overnight frosts have arrived, sometimes I wonder what the birds must think of it all...

Though October has brought no new species in it's always interesting in terms of movement and migration. We're still spotting the odd Swallow and House Martin, though most have already started their flight back to southern Africa, and with good reason, too. Their journey can be up to 6000 miles and takes up to 6 weeks, Allan's flight to Senegal next month is about 3000 miles and takes 6 hours, yet still he complains!

However, those birds that leave us for the winter are more than made up for by those who decide to join us. Thousands of Thrushes make their journey here from Scandinavia at this time of year, many are in the country already so look out for any passing over. In particularly harsh weather you may be lucky enough to have Redwings or Fieldfares visit your garden for any fruit of berries that are available, we are yet to spot any so far this year but are eagerly waiting in anticipation! Many finches also head our way for the winter, some will continue down as far as southern Spain but a huge amount we be visiting gardens here to make the most our generosity. Goldfinches are now turning up in good numbers here and many of you are saying the same, these fantastic looking finches will soon be joined by Siskins on the feeders and if you're lucky the odd Brambling may visit to pick up any dropped seeds.

One bird we've welcomed in the last week with open arms is the fabulous little Marsh Tit. This tidy looking bird is in fact one of my favourite garden birds and so I've been disappointed with its single visit to us before now. However, we believe there is now more than one regularly popping on to the feeders in the Nature Area, though like most Tits they tend to be on and off a feeder within a few seconds.

Half an hour spent in the hide can be very rewarding so please come and make the most of our Nature Area, you never know what you might see. Yesterday I popped over in the later afternoon and was greeted by a Magpie flaunting his iridescent colours. He came to rest on our 'A' shape log feature at the back and all of a sudden a male Sparrowhawk dived towards him! The Magpie promptly flew to the top of the 'A' and then they spent a good minute staring at each other to see who blinked first. Magpies can be a hostile bird and are in fact a tad bigger than a male Sparrowhawk so it came as no surprise to me that the Sparrowhawk blinked first and off he flew. With the windows of the hide closed I managed to snap a few shots but most importantly enjoy the whole experience without startling the two off.

Joe