Cats and Birds information on net.

ONE of the things I most missed when I was living in a Government flat was not having a garden. I could not sit out in the sun, and I could not look at the birds. When I moved to Hackney one of the first things I did was put a bird table in the garden.

Unfortunately, you don't get as many birds as you used to, but it is still a joy to watch them and to have this little bit of nature in your grasp.

In line with the results of the Big Garden Birdwatch - undertaken by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in January - I am getting more pigeons than I used to.

These rather plump birds perch very nervously and are very ungainly as they pick at the remnants of my breakfast toast. I presume their nervousness is well founded, given the large number of equally plump cats and foxes that inhabit this part of East London.

Although the number of birds is declining rapidly - the RSPB report that in 1979 an average of 15 starlings would be seen in one hour in a garden and it is now down to an average of 4.5 - interest in birds is growing. In 2001 52,000 people took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, sitting in their gardens for an hour watching for birds. This year the number taking party increased five-fold to 262,000. That's really good news.

The most commonly-seen birds are starlings, sparrows, blue tits and blackbirds. I seem to get more pigeons than sparrows, but they are probably better adjusted to the polluted urban air of my garden.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:14 AM