News archive

January 2011

Friday, 14 January 2011

Dartford warbler perching on heather

January Indoor Meeting Report

Indoor Meeting - 12 January 2011

Our first indoor meeting in 2011 proved to be an excellent presentation from Mark Holling on "Rare Breeding Birds in the UK." As secretary of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP), Mark receives all the latest data on rare breeding birds, such as Dartford Warbler (pictured), from bird recorders around the UK plus casual records from individuals. As well as using this information to compile reports for various conservation agencies he used it to prepare and deliver a fascinating and professional presentation illustrated with some excellent photographs and just the right amount of graphs!

It was also good to see some new faces at the meeting; hopefully you will all be encouraged to come along to future meetings.

Saturday, 1 January 2011

Adult male siskin on feeder

Feeding Garden Birds

Although we are experiencing a slight 'thaw' after a few weeks of extremely cold weather, please consider putting out food for your local birds. By putting out food you may be lucky and attract some of the more unusual species that have been seen in gardens in the Greater Glasgow area in the last few weeks - birds such as waxwing, lesser redpoll, siskin (pictured), brambling, fieldfare, redwing and reed bunting .

However, the RSPB is warning that cooked turkey fat is extremely dangerous to birds and could even kill them. Many people put the leftover contents of Christmas dinner roasting tins outside for birds, wrongly believing it's as beneficial to them as other fats like lard and suet.

They pour the fat onto bird tables or mix it with seed thinking it will give them an energy boost and provide them with the nutrients they need.

But cooked turkey fat is completely unsuitable for birds for several reasons:

· It stays soft even when cooled, meaning it could smear onto birds' feathers and ruin water proofing and insulating qualities

· The softness of turkey fat means its not practical to make popular 'bird cake' where its mixed with seeds, as it will not harden to hold its shape

· Many people rub turkey joints liberally with salt to crisp the skin and high levels of salt are toxic to birds

· The fat in roasting tins can't be separated from other leftover liquids like meat juices. This concoction can go rancid quickly, and form an ideal breeding ground for salmonella and other food poisoning bacteria

Birds are prone to bacterial infections at this time of year as their defences and energy levels are low because of the cold.

See www.rspb.org.uk/news/266511-big-fat-no-for-birds for more information.