People have a long association with the wild birds around them; listening to their noisy gatherings on lawns, trees or feeders, providing a great deal of pleasure for many of us.
There are several bird feeders filled with nuts and seeds situated in the grounds near the pathways that predominantly attract smaller birds like the robin. Most of the birds are in a small woodland area to the right of the curved ha ha, along the woodland walk.
Bird Habitats
The Garden
The museum garden is situated amongst and close to a variety of good bird habitats. The broad museum lawn is a good hunting ground for song thrushes, blackbirds, robins and starlings as they search for worms, insects and molluscs amongst the grass. Pied wagtails nesting nearby under roof spaces or crevices can often be seen catching insects on the lawn. Carrion crows are another frequent visitor as they look for any invertebrate prey, but also scraps of food left by the many visitors who picnic on the lawn.
Woodland
The grounds supports a wide range of trees through which a countless number of birds forage, nest and use in their daily lives. Many of these trees have an annual infestation of caterpillars, especially the oak. Every year the Tortrix moth lays its eggs on the emergent foliage, the trees will become defoliated, causing them to throw out new leaf growth in the summer, so called lammas leaves. This attracts large numbers of birds; the blue tit and other titmice rely on this annual event to provide plenty to feed for their young.
The surrounding gardens are important as they have an effect on the number of birds in the local area; older trees will attract woodpeckers, nuthatches and tree creepers, whilst large trees, shrubs and other dense foliage create great habitats for most smaller birds, like the sparrows and finches.
Wild Meadow
Below the lawn lies the wild flower meadow and is a treasure trove of mixed wild flowers and grasses that will support and attract a different range of birds, including pheasants, starlings and thrushes who will search for food, the rooks, magpies and jackdaws will look for invertebrates such as slugs and emerging daddy long legs at the appropriate time of year.
Insectivorous species such as flycatchers and warblers will chase insects across the meadow and lawn.
The Pond
At the lower end of the grounds lies the pond, this is of great importance to the local and passing birds that need to drink, wash and bathe regularly to keep their plumage in the best condition. Seed eating birds like the goldfinch and greenfinch are birds that need to drink regularly to take in water that their dry food diet does not supply. Aerial feeders like house martins swallows and swift will benefit from the insects that emerge from the pond and meadow. In spring, a chorus of frogs will attract an early morning heron or even a passing kingfisher.
The Grounds
The grounds consists of a lawn, shrubbery, trees of differing ages and types, conifer and deciduous, a wilder area, meadow and pond. The surrounding area is of great importance, there are mature gardens of a similar nature, beyond broad stands of trees of both conifer and deciduous there is a pastured valley with a hedge and streams, all of which contribute to the varied bird life that the garden and grounds help to support.
The Museum Buildings
The buildings also support the bird populations in the garden. In winter, the south facing walls will, if the sun is shining, entice out hibernating flies and other insects for wrens, titmice, robins and wagtails to feed on. They also provide nesting sites in spring for cavity and crevice-nesting birds like the robin and wagtail.
Bird Feeder
So we can see the museum garden and grounds support plenty of species, but we can increase these by feeding a variety of foods that will help them and give us a great deal of pleasure.
The feeders you see in the garden are similar to what you will see in many gardens. They provide a range of foods for a good range of bird species. The range of foods available is peanuts, black sunflower seed and hearts, live foods, fats, scraps seed mixes with or without cereals, water, and nyger. All these are valuable and important foods to help and support the birds in the gardens.
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| Near the obseration beehive |
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| To the right of the curved ha ha |
