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for this job.Just for the record, I regularly spot beautiful thrushes in my garden, and the remnants of snail shells indicating that they've been feeding, so clearly there are still snails around.The thrush is my favourite garden bird, but surely I can

or grubs hiding below soil level to feed this hungry horde, and how do starlings know there's food there anyway?In the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch last January, starlings came in at number 2 in the top ten of most commonly seen garden birds - just behind

Some of my earliest memories are of going to stay with my grandparents in Scotland. Every afternoon my grandfather would wander off to sit on a bench and feed the birds. He had a tin filled with peanuts in his waistcoat pocket, and robins and tits

With all this talk of feeding the birds lately, it would be wrong not to mention the potential unhappy consequence of such a good deed: rats.Rats are everywhere, and some say there is one rat for every human in the UK. They used to spread the plague

, replacing it with paving or gravel, are denying insects and birds an opportunity to come into their gardens to feed. And personally, wildlife is always welcome in my garden.

windfalls to collect, so we can make some more juice.I’ll save a few apples for the birds - I’m happy to feed them, but I begrudge the wasps, which hollowed out far too many fruits in this year’s crop.

to deny them food? After all, that’s what sharing your garden with wildlife should be all about, shouldn’t it?Or am I deluding myself, and these mischievous blackbirds have not got a taste for delicious organically grown apples, and I’m just feeding

feed (it is better to put it under the mulch as I have discovered from experience that it you do not then the dogs eat it with very unfortunate consequences). I have also used pelleted chicken manure and straightforward bonemeal: all of these come

hedgehog makes it into my garden at night, and they love to feed on slugs.However, gardeners who treasure their hostas (and other plants) know all too well just how much damage slugs and snails can do at night. I'm keen to garden without resorting

for as long as possible, in order to feed the birds and give the frost something to hold on to, but there comes a time when one has to surrender to weather, nature and decay.As you can see from the picture above, that moment has, I think, arrived. (Just