In this video we look at the 5 best way to help birds in your garden this spring.
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39 Comments
Loved the wild woodland area Joel. Also can’t wait for that video and the front garden project. Clearly more needs to be done in my garden. Number 1 being the pond.
There's another step I take to help birds in my garden & that's keeping it a cat free zone, it's horrific how many birds are killed by cats every year, after seeing 5 different cats last year trying to catch the birds I'd had enough & took steps to keep them out, the fact I'm home a lot & with all the ring canners I have out in the garden to watch the visiting hedgehogs all help in my battle to keep cats away.
Joel, I love you and could watch and listen to you tall about nature and wildlife all day long. I'd love to meet you one day. 🙂
I’ve put up micro bat boxes and a bird box. We have heaps of birds in the garden, but none have used the bird box yet 😢. It is on against a fence with plants all around. Perhaps I should move the box?🇦🇺. Thanks for your videos. Love watching.
Ideal video length: approx 15-30 minutes works best for me.
I'm not sure how many bird species still visit my garden now. When I first moved to my property 2 decades ago, I recorded 46 species over a 2 year period.
(Then we had 2 wickedly cold winters at -20C, the Neonicotinoid era, and some thoughtless neighbours bought peacocks – which instantly went on the rampage and killed lots of small birds. Thank goodness for foxes with discerning tastes).
I think we're down to about a dozen species of bird now.
However, I help what birds I have left (including a regular nesting pair of song thrushes) by continuing to plant an increasing range of interesting berry and fruit trees and bushes (my garden is a combined permaculture and wildlife project).
I'm lucky in that I was a professional gardener some years back and still a keen home gardener now, so I'd learned lots of propagating techniques, which enables me to add hundreds of new plants for free every year.
Most birds seem to love feasting on the 'red' raspberries and red/white currants more than anything else in the garden.
I find they only start eating other fruit once these particular plants run dry (and since I've now bought a wide range of raspberry hybrids that cover the entire summer right up to the first frost, they are rarely without their favourite food.
I've planted the furthest corner of the garden with raspberries specifically for the birds and don't go near them when they ripen. There are also several brash heaps and a small section of brash hedge in that part of the garden, so plenty of cover. Not much 'permanent' water there, now I come to think of it. There's a spring, but it quickly dries up after rainfall. Going to have to work out a way of capturing some of the water in a permanent pool.
Great vid as always…..always humble, always informative.
Keep it simple. Keep it sweet.
Well done.
I have 11 different bird feeders and get on average 30 goldfinches, cardinals, robins and a yellow rumped warbler. Just started getting the planting beds going with wildflowers and will be putting in some type of water source, other than a bird bath which I currently have. Love all that you show us. Keep up the inspiration.
Hi Joel, love the information we get from these videos. There’s always something new to learn, putting nesting material into a bird feeder I wouldn’t have thought of that in a million years. 30 to 45 minutes would probably be a good length for the videos with some feature length specials and interviews 🐝
20 minutes or there about is the extent of my attention span for most videos.
I personally watch many gardening type of videos and so usually cannot afford to spend too much time any one 😁.
when i moved in to our current house in wales we had 2 bare gardens, there were 2 occupied natural house martin nests and plenty of signs that others about or attempted, before i could get round to putting up boxes 1 fell down, and the last dropped a year later, despite having put up 6 house martin boxes, sadly they have yet to come back and use them, i also put up a terrace box for sparrows, but they have decided for the last 2 years that the martin boxes are better lol, 2 robin boxes under the bee platform out the back and a couple of tit boxes along one fence, hoping once the climbing/rambling roses jasmine and honeysuckle have fully established round the bee platform the robin boxes may get used, two of the roses i picked specifically for bees (lady of the lake) (generous Grdener), i have observed some birds eating some of the dead bees on the platform under the hives and they love picking off the greenfly from the roses and plum tree, back fence has a very large feeding station, a 10 port feeder, sun flower hearts a 6 port niger seed feeder, 2 fat ball feeders and a peanut feeder, we get blue, coal tits, around 30 goldfinches loads of sparrows, siskins, a few bulfinches and last year the long tailed tits turned up and have been visiting every so often occasionally a nuthatch will turn up or a squirrel, we get 5-6 bumble bee species which love the raspberries and honeysuckle, and leaf cutter bees on my DA roses, i've yet to see a sparrow hawk discover us though no doubt just a matter of time as i have seen them about nearby, i grow pole beans and 10ft non comercial peas, sparrows love eating the tops on the pole beans every year and the peas and beans provide lots of cover in summer, i grow dahalias front and back as well as having bonariensis, snowdrops, primroses, heather, lavender out the front with some rhubarb and roses, niether of the gardens are very big, but it's suprising what you can pack into a small space.
Everyone says not to put the nest boxes too close, but we put up as many as we can. The birds are less fussy than one might think. Often, one box is used, then when that nest fledges, the next box gets used. So, more boxes have been better for us. If nothing else, the nest boxes are decorative.
Hi Joel. 10 minutes for me as a preference. I think you can monetize with an ad in the middle at 5 mins on youtube also? One ad at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end? Ive seen a lot of Youtubers do this and 10 mins seems to be the perfect time limit (maybe just for me eating my lunch) but if you are doing 2 lots a week I think 20 mins a week is perfect. I really enjoy your channel btw. All the best 🐦
Wonderful video, as always.
I love your videos, from the talks on various flora to the interviews, to the projects and advice, a video is as long as it needs to be, I don’t have an issue with this. Thanks for all the time you put in filming and editing them, much appreciated. Regards Keith
thanks for another great video. the length of a video is more about what it is about, a plant is fine with 5-10, is it with more advice like this 10-30, others work best if it is 1-2 hour. I watch them when it suits me. I also pause if I don't have time to watch it all at once. sometimes I wait to see them until several weeks later, if it is something that is not seasonal/something where I lack knowledge now.
so to make a long story short, the length is not the most important thing, but the content.
i'm sorry my english is not better it's my second language and unfortunately i'm dyslexic
Hi Joel. Great video (as always). I already collect nesting material in an old feeder. Have been doing it for years and it's great to see bird's using it. I've not had so much luck with nesting boxes, but I will try again. 🤞
I didn't know you had 3 dogs so seeing Siri is just fab. Such a handsome boy. 💙
Take care.
Eagerly waiting for the update on your garden – front and back! 😚 For me, videos around 20 minutes are best, it’s the longest I ever get to sit down 😂
Great video, I think about the 20 to 30 mins is good. I have started a gardening club here in the west of Ireland and the next one is making bird boxes after being inspired by your other video. So thank you and hopefully I can spread the word too, you deserve a million subscribers
Joel your video's are great!! you make them as long as you can,it's an important subject,one thing I would like to see and forgive me if you have already made a video on this but one on compost heaps and the benefits, I have one but get really confused on what to put in it,and how to maintain it. Looking forward to all your new content.
Hi I have bird box but some time I get black bird a robin but they perfect next door plus have cat he old one 18 this year , and got brush like which hazel Ace brush all together and pond
Would love to see a future video on growing ivy up trees Joel, I have a magnolia tree that was damaged in the snow, with branches lost. Before I cut it down and replace I'd be interested in growing ivy up it.
Problem for us is that with a wildlife pond and a timber constructed sunken seating area every time we put out feeders we have an issue with rats therefore we have had to stop feeding birds unfortunately
is it ok to use cat fur?
All good tips Joel, think we do all of those apart from the height stuff, and we certainly get the birds through (including the Sprawk) Starlings we usually get dropping in going from/to the roost at each end of the day, with a few nests nearby we also get the chaos of them feeding their young after fledging
15-20 mins is a good video length for me.
Hi Joel another great information video must amit the Bird's love your bird seed mix & fat balls highly recommended….
Hi Joel. I've had the swift box moved from the side of the house and put round the front. It's been up for three years with no luck. I've sent you a photo of what we found in the box when it was taken down. I think it might have had something to do with the house sparrow that sits on the corner of the roof and sings his little heart out. Not sure he has been successful as we don't get sparrows in the garden generally. We also had a second swift box put up.
A couple of weeks ago we found part of garden covered in pigeon feathers. Our local sparrowhawk I think the culprits was. I think the fox would have just taken it away whole.
Never had much luck with my bird boxes. Maybe it's because I don't leave any feed out (I'm trying to provide an environment of natural food rather than directory feeding them but that might change in the future) but I'm in the process of moving the location of my blue tit box so fingers crossed that helps.
Hopefully and based on 26/3/23 activity, it is looking like we will have Tobin and Blue Tit pair nesting in our garden this year. 🤞🏻
15 mins no more so I can get right onto my garden tasks😊
The starlings in our garden don't tough the seeds they just go for the meal and calci worms
Hello Joel,
On the subject of video length, I would say 30 mins for most subjects, but in the case for the bigger projects such as your garden creations I don't mind 60 mins.
For nesting material I go over my mums mossy lawn with a spring tined rake and leave the birds to it, but I also use a fat feeder with wool from rare breed sheep that I purchase.
I've spotted our first nest of the year, a robin who has taken over an open fronted nestbox made from woodcrete.
about the dog hair, if you give anti flea and tick pills to your dog the hairs are actually toxic and it is not a good idea to provide those hairs to birds.
Informational and building video I like 20+/- min video 🙂
You could do short ones and long ones. Classify them differently maybe. Deep dive vs the basics kind of thing. Regardless, I always wish there were more.
We have sparrows nesting in next doors bushes, we also get a Sparrowhawk who just jumps into the bush for a help youself breakfast buffet. But the sparrows carry on nesting there and there are always plenty of them, so it seems to work for both predator and prey.
1 hour every day! Haha. If only.
I watched this on Sunday night but forgot to make a comment. I’ve been collecting long hairs of mine from my different hairbrushes for the birds. I remember 30 odd years ago brushing the family’s German Shepherd & the birds just flocked down near me for Zekes hair. Starlings, blackbirds, house sparrows & magpies. Just great memories & a 👍🏻 video from Joel. Thanks
Very good video.Very interesting and informative and I like your style,nice bloke.Thankyou.
Great sharing 👌👌👌👌👌