Garden habitats for birds

I AM BELATEDLY MAKING MY WAY THROUGH the February issue and have just read James Fair’s piece about feeding birds.

- 

What a brilliant article! Some years back, my family unwittingly contributed to the decline of greenfinches (and probably other species as well) because we never cleaned our birdfeeders. Since learning about trichomonosis, we regularly clean our birdfeeders now and encourage friends and family to do the same. I agree with James’s sentiments that we should be incorporating at least some wildlife-friendly features into our gardens, whether that’s planting native flowers, letting flowers go to seed, or providing logpiles and other dark and overgrown areas for slugs, beetles and other invertebrates. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a garden, and they are such important habitats for so much of our beleaguered wildlife. While supplementary feeding can be helpful during the winter and spring, it’s somewhat perverse that we remove the natural feeding opportunities from our gardens, only to then provide the food back to the birds via feeders. Laura Howles, via email

Oyster reefs