Are Birds Busy Nestbuilding In Your Garden?

Springtime always sees the birds busy nest building. I have seen many birds gathering nest building materials from around our garden. This woodpigeon in the photograph found a nice large twig to start the nest with!

I always find its a bit of a balance for me in the garden at this time of year. Part of me has an inclination to tidy everything up and get it looking nice after the winter. 

However, the larger part of me wants there to be habitat and materials for our garden visitors to use.  I know many of our neighbors keep a very tidy garden so especially at the front I do keep things neater there, but the back is very private and can be more for wildlife. I have written a post earlier you may like to read about Are We Too Tidy In Our Gardens? 

I know that nature likes and needs a bit of untidiness and that is useful to the birds and animals that visit and live in our garden. So, in general, our garden is a little on the untidy side or as I like to think it on the wildlife-friendly side. We have a pile of logs in one corner and cuttings and twigs are left on the borders for the creatures to make use of as they wish. This time of year the birds love it! 

I do so enjoy seeing them fly down to gather up a mass of twigs in their beaks and try to see where they fly to as that is where the nest building begins. It is amazing how many twigs one blackbird can fit in its beak! 

I also put out the dander from the dryer to give them something soft if they want it to line the nest. I used to put out dog fur from grooming our golden retriever and it was surprising how many nests we could see afterward which had golden or cream dog fur peeking out for the lining!   

The blossoms from our Magnolia tree make a good nest lining too, so soft yet strong. So we leave them where they fall like confetti and very pretty.

  

So perhaps this year leave a bit of untidiness in the garden, a few sticks and twigs lying around,  they are the birds building materials. 

If you have a dog perhaps after grooming don't put the fur in the bin,  but pop it outside so that the birds can make use of it as their soft furnishings. 

You will be well rewarded for a little bit of untidiness with birdsong and nests :) If you are interested and would like to read my story of the life of a blackbird nest- from nest to fledglings please read Our Nesting Blackbirds.

 Are you seeing birds busy gathering materials and nest building in your garden? 


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