Birds – Beautify Balham

October has now ended, taking with it the last of the summer’s heat.
With the change of seasons comes a different set of needs for our gardens.
Autumn is the perfect time to tidy up before the really cold weather sets in. As plants and grass begin to slow their growth, it’s a good time to have a clear up in the garden.

Mulch and Mush

Cut back plants that have turned brown and mushy, but maybe leave some of the more interesting seed heads for the birds and to add interest to the borders architecturally.
If you have a lawn, it’s better to avoid cutting it. Aerate the lawn with a fork then rake up leaves as they fall and use them for mulch on your flower beds, or you can also gather up the leaves and place them in black plastic sacks. Tie up the bag and make holes with a fork before storing them behind a shed or out of sight. Wait until the Spring when they will have mulched down, ready to spread around trees and shrubs.

Indoor flowers

Prepare indoor bulbs for flowering at Christmas. Hyacinths and daffodils can be forced during the winter months. You can find bulbs on sale now in garden centres and nurseries. Prepare a pot with holes in the bottom and cover with a few crocks. Mix some compost with grit and fill the pot half way up. Place the bulbs on top then cover with more compost and water slightly. Place in a dark cupboard and check for new growth. Water if dry. Bring them out into the light onto a window sill when shoots are about 5 cm, then enjoy watching them grow and flower in your home.

More things to do this week…

Deadhead flowers that are continuing to bloom
Collect seeds and store in paper envelopes or bags and label. Store in a dry place until Spring
Prune branches on trees and shrubs that have died back or are in the way. Cut back to a healthy side branch
Divide deciduous shrubs by cutting back foliage, forking roots apart and replanting elsewhere
Plant bulbs: daffodils, crocus, iris reticulata, muscari (grape hyacinth) and scillas in window boxes and in the garden. Tulips can be planted now too or well into November or December.

Oh yes, and don’t forget to feed the birds! Seeds, berries and suet balls will be appreciated and a lovely way to light up a gloomy day watching from your window!

Enjoy your Autumn and Winter gardening! Please send your seasonal gardening tips to us at hello@beautifybalham.org or tag us in on social media through @BeautifyBalham!

As International Dawn Chorus Day approaches, on Sunday May 1st, this article reflects on some of the birds that may enliven our environment in Balham.

Spring is the time when birdsong reaches its peak, though some of our resident species have already been singing for months – Song Thrushes started to sing in December, and Robins sing all year round – particularly if they have a street light in their territory. Light is one of the key factors that triggers birds to sing, and Robins are especially susceptible to the effect of artificial light sources.

I lead occasional walks for the Friends of Wandsworth Common, looking at and listening to, the birds on the Common. One of the questions that I am asked most frequently is how to identify birds by their songs and calls. There’s no easy answer to this, as an individual’s experience of birdsong is very subjective: one person’s tuneful melody is another person’s raucous squawking. And different individual birds do sing differently – some species will try to impress their prospective partners by incorporating copies of other birds’ songs, or noises that they hear from their environment. Starlings are extremely good at imitating other sounds, and can successfully copy ringtones, car alarms and other noises in their chattering songs. The buildings on the corners opposite Waitrose are a good place to hear them!

Other birds that can be heard locally include the Wren – a little bird with a big voice, that fires off like a machine gun–and the outwardly unassuming Dunnock (whose private lives are extremely racy), with a song sounding like a shopping trolley with a squeaky wheel. To me, a Robin’s song does tend to validate Michael Jackson’s ornithological masterwork, Rockin’ Robin (does anyone remember the original version by Bobby Day?), in singing “Twiddley dee, twiddley diddley dee”, while the Song Thrush does indeed tend to sing each song twice (or, indeed, three times) over, as Robert Browning noted while thinking abroad. Interestingly, urban Blackbirds are now tending to follow Paul McCartney’s observation in singing in the dead of night – a relatively recent development, possibly reflecting the need to find a quiet time to sing when they are more likely to be heard, rather than compete with daytime traffic noise. Typically, birdsong reaches its peak in the hour or so before and after dawn, and keen birders may be up at 4 a.m. on Dawn Chorus day to appreciate the volume of birdsong as it develops to its peak. But an alternative is just to open a window and hear what’s going on.

In order to enjoy birdsong, one doesn’t need to identify which bird is making the sound. Birdsong has been around, it’s thought, for about fifty million years! Birdsong has been here for much longer than humans, and it is believed to have originated in Australia. Birdsong has been shown by various studies to have relaxing properties for the human listener and to have potential benefits for our mental health. Various theories have been put forward to explain this – one is that, if birds were singing it meant that they didn’t perceive a threat, and this enabled our ancestors to feel a bit more relaxed! Who knows whether that’s right, but in any case it is worth taking a moment or two to listen and enjoy.

Article by Nick Rutter, Wandsworth Common Bird Walk Guide and a Friend of Wandsworth Common

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