E5: What's in the bird garden? From Margaret's garden in Kent - autumn "Wouldn't it be a terrible world if there were no birds?"
Description
Margaret is an avid garden birder with a fascinating backstory. Margaret's a talented nature writer and has penned more than 50 blogs for the Haith's bird food community since joining the armchair naturalists project. The project was launched by Haith's bird food during the coronavirus lockdown to help people stay connected with the natural world and share their insights with the community.
It turns out Margaret is no ordinary garden birder. For her professional life of almost 40 years, Margaret was a meteorologist. For fifteen of those years, she was broadcasting as part of her role with BBC local radio and even national radio.
Then Margaret moved "to the other side" with ITV and did occasional interviews, probably the scariest one being live on the ITN lunchtime news during snowy weather where she had to do that one outside with her foot in plaster. Margaret also provided video input for the Met Office for several years and hasn't lost her broadcasting skills.
Margaret's bird garden is awash with wildlife - it's a stepping stone for nature, offering good food, shelter, fresh water and a place to breed. In return, all Margaret asks for is to watch the comings and goings of her feathered friends as she makes a point to observe, watch and sometimes write about their antics.
To help picture Margaret's bird garden in Kent:
Margaret lives in Kent and has a suburban garden 90ft long by 45ft wide. She has a well-established garden with mixed shrubs. Her garden is 400 yards from a green space and overlooks the North Downs.
Margaret regularly feeds seed mixes, suet products and live foods and provides fresh drinking and bathing water.
Margaret's blogs list a large number of wildlife including starlings, robins, blackbirds, doves, sparrows, and woodpecker are all regular visitors as well as bats, foxes, butterflies and squirrels (who loves burying peanuts!).
More: Margaret's blogs can be read on Haith's website here: https://haiths.com/blogs/garden-bird-blog
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