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Why You Should Oppose 600 Home Development in North Blandford

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Editorial team
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Last week Blandford Town Council voted narrowly against a major new housing development of 600 dwellings sited north of the bypass, with up to 200 of them proposed in Pimperne parish. This was an historic upset as all expectations were for approval prior to the meeting. As Cllr. Carter, a Town Councillor and one of the key architects of the Blandford+ Neighbourhood Plan put it “the Plan is inextricably linked to this development”. However this is a deeply flawed application being actively promoted by Dorset Council and elements within Blandford, with scant regard for the consequences and the people of the area, especially Pimperne.  After hearing speeches from Dorset CPRE, Pimperne Parish Council (PC) and the Blandford Allotment Society, councillors saw sense and voted 8-7 against on grounds of adverse environmental impact and concerns over access and highway safety. This follows objections by Pimperne and Stourpaine PCs, Cranborne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and North Dorset CPRE, with more likely to follow.

Supposedly North Dorset suffers from a housing supply shortage. This is the main reason for wanting to build this huge development along with the need for a new primary school in Blandford, which is expected be built from Section 106 proceeds paid by the developer, Wyatt Homes. It is bizarre logic to build more houses just to get a new school.

Rolling downland which would be desecrated by the housing development – Image by CPRE

Key Concerns

  • First a recent independent report, Dorset’s Housing Needs, commissioned by Dorset CPRE, demolished the government’s Standard Housing Method for assessing local housing need. The government used 2014 household projections rather than later ones which suggest lower housing needs. Local Plan Housing Targets for the Dorset Council (DC) area are currently 24% lower than the government’s housing need target of 1,827 homes using 2014 household projections. There is clearly no need for new houses in Blandford itself as there is 11.5 years housing land supply at the current build rate, thanks to many new approved developments around the town, which is over twice the government housing target of 5 years. If only DC would stand up for Dorset rather than give in to demands from Westminster.
  • Secondly the scale of this development means it is a strategic one, and should only progress as part of the Dorset-wide Local Plan formulation which is three years away at the earliest. The potential allocation of the site was considered through the Blandford Plus Neighbourhood Plan (NP), but the legality of the plan has been challenged and Dorset Council is currently seeking legal advice. The inclusion of an area of land within Pimperne parish, which would accommodate up to 200 houses, is not justified as it is contrary to the made Pimperne NP, which was voted on and offers protection, with the parish housing target only 39 dwellings for the period 2015-2031. The NP requires that any development should not reduce the gap between Blandford and Pimperne, which this proposal does.
  • Thirdly there will be severe adverse visual impact on the Cranbourne Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as part of the site is within this, as well as the setting. This will be exacerbated by the sloping nature of the site, and the number of tall buildings which will be difficult to screen, with current provision totally inadequate. The AONB is now an International Dark Sky Reserve and all development should meet their criteria. The developer in its application has clearly not covered Lighting and its effects on Dark Skies properly.
  • Fourthly the development is not sustainable, with the bypass having to be crossed to access the town, whose centre is not within walking distance. This will encourage the use of cars, as will the location of the school for parents living in Blandford, while residents of the new development will probably also convey their children by car as a major road separates it from the housing.
Lamperd’s Field Allotments on north side of Salisbury Rd. Features Martin Prior who is not happy about the development. Image By CPRE

There are very limited employment opportunities in Blandford, so most seeking employment would head for Poole, thus more cars are likely to be used by new residents, causing more congestion.

There has been little attempt to address climate change, a key concern of Dorset Council. It beggars belief that a council that declares a climate emergency could then permit a development such as this.

  • Fifthly noise from the bypass will impact seriously on properties close by. It is ironic that most of the so-called affordable homes will be located close to the bypass.  Noise mitigation measures suggested here are frankly pathetic e.g. closing windows at night in noise-sensitive rooms.
  • Another key issue is Highways. The A350, a strategic arterial route will suffer major congestion with a new roundabout and three new pedestrian crossings. Building new pedestrian bridges, to supplement the existing one, makes much more sense but is not cheap. The creation of another pedestrian crossing on the A354 on the Salisbury Road and another by the Bellway development will exacerbate the situation. The bypass will cease to function effectively and impact severely on the whole area.
  • The allotments are going to be moved onto arable land. It will take many years of soil creation to produce fruit and vegetables on thin chalky land used for cereals. There are 140 affected allotment holders.
  • The greatest irony of this development is that the new school is only envisaged for phase 2), with no guarantee it will go ahead, while 167 houses are being built as part of phase 1) and will be occupied by families who will put even more pressure on existing overcrowded schools within Blandford before the new school is built. Medical services are already under major strain as well.

Please Protest!

Much of North Dorset will be affected by this development so it is critical that residents send a strong message of protest to Dorset Council and the government. Please post your comments on the Dorset planning portal without delay (https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/planning-buildings-land/planning/planning-application-search-and-comment.aspx) or email planningteamd@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk Ref. P/OUT/2020/00026

Rupert Hardy, Chairman, North Dorset CPRE

Christmas Services Winterborne Valley & Milton Abbas Benefice

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Editorial team
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Please see below a list of Christmas services fro the winterborne Valley and Milton Abbas Benefice for 2020.

Outside each of our churches there will be a display telling a part of the Christmas story. Follow the trail in the following order to experience the whole story – 1. Milton Abbas 2. Whitechurch 3. Clenston 4. Houghtion 5. Stickland 6. Turnworth.

Booking is essential as capacity is reduced due to Covid restrictions. See the poster below for contactc to reserve a place.

Christmas Services Winterborne Valley & Milton Abbas Benefice

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Go up Bulbarrow Hill … | Tales from the Vale

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Editorial team
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Go up Bulbarrow Hill and at the top, just off Cuckoo Lane, apart from a really beautiful view, you’ll see disused buildings, aerials and, across the lane, old Nissan huts.

All looks a bit dull, but this is a site of considerable national importance. It was a Gee Station, used during the war to allow RAF greater accuracy in its night-time bombing raids across Germany and occupied Europe.

Until the invasion of North Africa, Bomber Command was the only way of bringing the fight to the Germans on land, so ‘hitting the Hun’ was of political as well as military importance.

The only problem was it was more a case of ‘Missing the Hun’ as bombing was highly inaccurate in the war’s early stages. Only 10% of bombs dropped came within miles of the target.

GEE is a British radio navigation system, devised by the gloriously named Robert Dippy, and developed at the Telecommunications Research Centre at Swanage, Dorset.  

The Germans also used similar technology. The British were aware of this and, it is believed by some, our boffins ‘bent’ their radio direction beams so that German bombers on one occasion unwittingly bombed neutral Dublin instead of their target in west England.  An act for which the Nazis apologized (we can presume without really meaning it, perhaps the Nazi Ambassador had his fingers crossed when he said, ‘sorry, and all that’), and post-war Germany paid compensation for the atrocity.

Back to Bullbarrow.  It is so-named because it is the site of an Iron Age fort, whose inhabitants buried each other (not at the same time, obviously) in barrows, or burial mounds, and is also referred to in popular music.

Few people will not be keenly aware that the British band, Half Man Half Biscuit, refers to Bulbarrow Hill in their song, ‘Third Track Main Camera Four Minutes’.  Well worth a YouTube.

This terrific song, I need hardly tell you, comes from their 2000 album, Trouble Over Bridgewater, in which, again, as most of you will know, the narrator bemoans the increasing popularity of trendy holiday destinations, such as Cuba and Iceland, saying, ‘I’d much rather go down to Dorset, with its wonderful Bulbarrow Hill’. I’m surprised Dorset Tourism hasn’t cottoned on to these wise words.

Less amusing is the fact that on 13th February 1969, a Gloster Meteor jet fighter crashed on Bulbarrow Hill (Grid ref 805068) killing both pilots, R Woolley and Flight Lieutenant RV Patchett. The cause of the crash has never been established. But two local men, John Tory and Donovan Browning received bravery awards for risking their lives trying to save the pilots.

Some people of a certain age will remember the rather lovable TV pundit and countryman, Jack Hargreaves, who, briar pipe firmly clenched between nicotine-stained gnashers, achieved a degree of fame with his Out Of Town programmes. Jack’s ashes were spread in 1994 on Bulbarrow Hill above his home, Raven Cottage in Belchalwell.

https://youtu.be/kmTt9VwTmXA

This village’s unusual name, I am more or less reliably informed, doesn’t stem from the residents’ widely-documented love of pickled onions, but refers to a ‘cold well on a hillside’. More romantic, I suppose, but I’m rather keen on the pickled onion thing which, incidentally, I just made-up.  

The two-acre site where the personnel manning the Gee Station lived is reported to have been acquired for £30,000 by a Richard Hayward in 1991, after he rented the site since 1970, where he ran a woodyard making fences and pit props.

Mr Hayward is reported to have said that shortly after buying the land’s freehold, he was offered £500,000 for it. And that, now with planning permission for a residence, it is worth closer to £1m.  

And if you drive past you can see a substantial and very attractive house almost at the end of its building. It may already be finished, but I can hardly claim that checking up on its progress is ‘essential travel,’ as I write this during lock-down.

Before I sign off, I’ll mention that during the war, my father, when a young lad, was, with his mates, regularly bussed from Plymouth to Dartmoor where the young scamps rigged up apparatus on dark nights so that German bombers mistook the moor for the Naval Docks at Devonport.

‘So your aim was to attract the bombs,’ I asked my dad.  He said the lads, volunteers all, found it very exciting. Their protection consisted of helmets made from compressed cardboard, and they dug trenches they’d jump into when the bombs arrived, ‘Oh, well that’s all right, then,’ I said.

Similarly, my mum, a nine year old London girl during the Blitz, even now tells of how exciting she found it in the shelter in their garden while high explosive rained all around. ‘We had cocoa, could read all night,’ she says, wistfully.  Mind you, this is a lady who said she found VE Day, ‘rather dull’.

And I have in my possession an old black and white photo of VE Day celebrations and I can clearly see my mum, then a very pretty 14 year old, looking rather left out.

What steely youth we had then, eh?

Andy Palmer

Celebrating Christmas in Enmore Green

By
Editorial team
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Everywhere there is gloom about the future. Christmas is cancelled and so on. It will not be possible to have our usual packed carol service this year but we will. still celebrate the best we can.

Join us for an outdoor Christmas Tree Trail from Thursday 17th December to Sunday 20th Decemeber. See the poster below for full details.

chritsmas tree trail enmore green

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Meet your local | The Fox Inn Ansty

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Editorial team
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The Fox Inn is owned and run by brothers Robert & Will Wallis. It was the first pub – and original
home – of the Woodhouse family, whose brewery ‘Hall & Woodhouse’, now in Blandford, was formerly in Ansty.


How did you end up at the Fox?


We (The Wallis family) have been farming in Ansty for 21 years at Brewery Farm. Over the years we have diversified into the tourism market with 3 luxury lodges and a campsite. When The Fox Inn became for sale as a freehouse back in 2018 myself and my brother Will took the chance to acquire the historic inn – the link to the Woodhouses is where Brewery Farm got its name!

After negotiations, we took on the pub on 3rd June 2019 and opened the doors at the end of June after three intense weeks of refurbishment! We took the chance on the pub having never been involved in hospitality before for a number of reasons. The first was simply as an outlet for our homegrown organic meat. Two; to ensure our holiday guests have a great place to go to. Three; to make a proper hub for the village. We are proud to say we have achieved some of our goals (many more to go!) with a lively locals bar and thriving seasonal trade with quality food & drink.

What’s your favourite local place to visit on an afternoon off?


On a rare afternoon off when I am not pouring pints or chasing cattle, nothing beats a walk to our neighbouring pub The Hambro Arms at Milton Abbas with Pepper (the dog)! We are lucky to be surrounded by such an abundance of fantastic walks. You are spoilt for choice with many circular routes that find their way back to The Fox, including the famous Dorset Gap & Rawlsbury Camp on Bulbarrow Hill. Should you fancy a longer walk the pub can provide a cracking picnic. During Lockdown 2.0 we have also made our own walking routes book for charity donations.

Tell us about your 2020…


During Lockdown 1.0 we offered weekly takeaways one day a week with a changing theme weekly: to include pizzas from our proper pizza over, burgers, fish and chips etc. Most weeks we were doing over 100 meals! It was great to be able to see all our locals and give them (especially those working and with young families stuck at home) some respite from having to cook each night.

Over the summer we were overwhelmingly busy and we adjusted our business to work with the restrictions including a bespoke handmade bar outside, huge outdoor menus to minimise contact and enough seating for
150 outside socially distanced. We also served all day everyday from 12-9pm to help spread the volume of customers across the day which worked brilliantly in keeping a steady and safe flow of people. Throughout the summer we also sold bespoke ‘Fox’ pint glasses to raise money for our local school at Cheselbourne.

And what’s been your biggest challenge?


Finding staff who want to come and work out here (or indeed are able to) as we are quite rural! Made even trickier by the constant change in needing staff from being shut without announcement to suddenly open and being run off our feet, to being shut again! Although we are incredibly lucky with the staff we do have who have been brilliant throughout what has been an extraordinary year.

What are you most proud of?


No one particular thing, but of everything we have achieved in such a short space of time, especially with Covid chucked in the mix! In a year like 2020 it can be hard to remember the positives. But before we took on the pub it was beginning to lose its reputation. With the support of our staff, locals, and friends, we believe the pub has turned a corner. We have an exciting and changing choice of beer and drinks, a seasonal and quality menu, a great team, fresh décor and regular events including tasting nights, live music, quizzes and fundraisers. We are now
attracting people from far and wide including walkers due to the fabulous surrounding countryside and even horse
riders who can make use of our hitching post while they enjoy lunch or a drink!

What part of the pub is your absolute favourite?


Our recently refurbed Private Dining room ‘The Den’! We completed it during Lockdown. With a table for 10, comfy seating and log burner and cosy colours it is perfect for private parties, shoot groups, business meetings and more. On a winters evening there is nothing better than settling in with a proper pint in.

Which dish is your most popular?


We always have lots of seasonal specials and often host theme nights including, pie & wine, gin & tapas and so on but our top seller is always ‘The Fox Burger’. It’s no surprise: made from our own organic cattle on our farm just 50
meters away, with Somerset bacon & Dorset cheese!

What’s next?


We’re not going to let Tier 2 get us down! We’ve been open again since the 2nd, but please brush up on the new rules before coming: one household inside, and up to six people outside – so grab a coat, hat & five friends and we’ll see you soon. Current opening times are: Thursday from 3pm through to Monday 11pm – takeaways also
available!
And we have lots of exciting plans for coming festivities. Watch this space!

Visit the website here give us a call 01258 880328

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Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services (STARS Dorset)

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Editorial team
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STARS Dorset is a pan-Dorset charity that offers one to one support, free of charge, for anyone of any age or gender, who lives works or studies in Dorset and has experienced any form of sexual violence such as rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse or domestic abuse at any time in their life.  STARS Dorset provides several different types of support including an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Service, a one to one Counselling service, a Children and Young People’s Service and a Support Line.


Last year the charity supported more than 1800 people in the county. This year it has continued to support anyone who has needed it, during the first lockdown it increased the hours of its Support Line and continued to offer support through its counselling service and Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Service both online and by the phone. From the 1st April this year until the 30th September the charity has supported 1033 adults and 272 children and young people across Dorset.
 
This year the charity has also launched two new projects, one is a 20-week counselling project specifically for anyone who has suffered from domestic abuse and the second project is to support children and young people across Dorset who have witnessed and experienced domestic abuse.
 
As with many charities this year the number of people that need support has increased yet the ability to fundraise in the community has decreased as has the amount of businesses who are able to offer donations and take part in challenge events which help raise vital funds for the charity’s work. STARS Dorset are therefore asking anyone who is able to donate or knows a business who might like to, to get in touch. Text Donations can be done via your phone, text ‘STARSDORSET” to 70085 to donate £3, or through their social media @starsdorset or via their website. The charity will also be organising a sponsored Firewalk next year and a chance to Sky Dive for them. If you would like to take part in either of these challenge events please either email info@starsdorset.org or call their office on 01202 308840. More information about the charity and the work they do can be found on their website www.starsdorset.org.
 
Anyone who has been affected by sexual violence and would like confidential advice and support in Dorset can call the STARS Support Line on 01202 308855 or visit www.starsdorset.org

It’s (socially distanced) behind you!

By
Editorial team
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by Gay Pirrie Weir

Theatres fight back against Covid blues

THERE was relief all round for local theatres, concert halls and arts centres when the Government announced we would be in Tier 2 when the lockdown eases on 2nd December.

panto at the octagon theatre

It means that the carefully planned, socially distanced, Covid-secure pantomimes, Christmas shows, concerts and other events can go ahead, with all the relevant protocols and arrangements made. Booking is essential as the venues need to have contact details of all audience members, so don’t just turn up and expect to be admitted. The rule of six will apply, so no big parties. Make sure the venues know how many people are in your group so that seating can be organised.

Many of our local theatres have leapt at the chance of offering seasonal entertainment to their audiences. They can only use 50 per cent of their seating capacity, so there will be high demand for available tickets among those who want to enjoy something of a “normal” Christmas.

Salisbury Playhouse has two shows, Little Robin Redbreast for the younger audiences and Guy Masterson’s inspired solo performance of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The family show runs at various day times from Monday 7th to Sunday 27th December, and Scrooge takes centre stage in the evening from 15th to 19th December.

Nurse Nellie will be saving the pantomime at Yeovil Octagon, on various dates from Friday 11th December to Sunday 3rd January. The five-strong (bubbled) cast, led by Gordon Cooper, Jack Glanville and Thom Ford, performs Paul Hendy’s new show, which incorporates many of the best-loved moments from the pantomime genre. When a baddie steals the joy of pantomime, will Nurse Nellie and her friends manage to rescue it? Oh yes they will!

Bath Theatre Royal has the hilarious farce The Play that Goes Wrong from Thursday 17th December to Saturday 16th January, just the thing to banish the 2020 winter blues. You might have seen the play, and others from the successful company, on television. It is MUCH funnier to see it in the flesh.

On the more serious side there is David Mamet’s Oleanna from 3rd to 22nd December, and then from 4th to 16th January. Starring Jonathan Slinger and Rosie Sheehy, this brilliant 1992 play is the uncomfortable dissection of a claim by a student that her tutor has sexually harassed her, and the effects her claim has on both their lives.

Chris Jarvis has written the Poole Lighthouse pantomime, Happy Ever After, and he and his friends will perform it between 18th December and 3rd January.

There are four live shows at Bournemouth Pavilion – but no pantomime. Fans will be delighted that Paul Jones and the Blues Band will be back at Wimborne Tivoli on 12th December, as well as a Covid version of Jack and the Beanstalk from 18th December to 3rd January, also at the Tiv.

Congratulations to all those theatres that persevered with productions in the knowledge that their efforts might be scuppered by the rules. Let’s support them if we can, and look forward to a post-vaccine 2021 Christmas with Covid “Behind You”

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Rose Hatcher –The Workhouse Chapel, Bath Road, Sturminster Newton

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Editorial team
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“We must expand in order not to contract” (Julia Cameron)

Now in its ninth year, ‘Handmade for Christmas at The Workhouse Chapel’, the creation of textile artist Rose Hatcher and showcasing dozens of makers and artists from Dorset and surrounding counties, has become one of Dorset’s most loved and best attended Christmas events. However, unable to run her usual sales at The Chapel this winter, at the beginning of October Rose woke one morning – with the fully-formed plan to carry out Christmas sales online. The response from all the artists was very positive; so an opening date of 1st November was set. That meant that Rose, alongside local maker and co-conspirator, Kate Osman, had just two weeks to pull the whole enterprise together! As a result, many loyal customers will now be celebrating the return of ‘Handmade for Christmas … online (www.workhousechapel.co.uk)

In previous years, the joy of The Chapel exhibition space was to walk in from the cold and find a festive atmosphere, a sense of warmth and sanctuary: a place where a cosy sofa snuggled up to a bright wood burner and hot coffee and biscuits were always on offer. Rose explained that total strangers would enter the Chapel and end up spending the whole day with her. “If somebody comes to your door, you greet and offer them hospitality. I’ve always tried to do that, so that when people leave The Chapel, they feel like they’ve been to a friend’s house.”

Rose has cleverly managed to inject the same unique Christmas spirit into the website – for web-browsers will find the same warmth and snippets of creative frivolity here as in The Chapel. There is something for every taste, from exquisite hand-felted or machine-embroidered pictures, ceramics, wooden items, cards, silver jewellery and recycled glass to inexpensive, quirky stocking fillers. There is even the same Bargain Basement as before! Feeling that there is a disconnect these days between people and the things they buy, Rose seeks to imbue her items with a human connection, to link object with artist and to sell something that will add a lasting value to the ownership.

Rose has been aided in her endeavours by glass artist Kate Osman. Kate, in Rose’s own words, is “the sensible one”; the social media guru helping to generate sales through advertising, whereas Rose’s innovatory and creative ideas (like her amusing personal blogs entitled Musings and Ramblings), help to increase followers. One of her titles in particular caught my eye – ‘Coddi-wompling’. Do you know what that means? English slang but a word which could easily be added to your vocabulary, it means to ‘travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination.’ Rose says: “Currently I am coddi-wompling my way through life.”

However, there is no vague destination associated with this website and the duo are finding that their loyal customers are returning. Every morning sees Rose packing up the parcels (pledging not to use any new plastic packaging materials); and every afternoon sees her posting them out. There is also click and collect service from The Chapel and heavy, fragile and larger items can be delivered locally.

Rose herself is an artist best known for using silk and wool fibres to create exuberant images; she also makes jewellery, either using hand-rolled felt beads, semi-precious stones or recycled salvaged items. However, knowing that Rose is constantly seeking to explore alternative artistic disciplines, I wondered whether the first lockdown months had given her a chance to investigate other mediums and techniques. “I felt lockdown was a strange gift.  All other pressures were taken away and there was time to explore different things. I started walking every day at dawn and taking photographs, appreciating our beautiful countryside more than ever before.  I made clothes from old curtains – and wove tapestry – on a loom from a boot sale, using wools that had been owned by an old friend.” 

During this time, she crystallised her new thinking: she realised she was interested in taking “the precious” out of her work. “As artists, when we’ve made something, we’ve put heart and soul into its creation – we are reluctant to ‘spoil’ it by use”.  But rather than the finished piece of work just being admired, Rose is keen to bring ‘art’ into everyday use – to be appreciated on more than just a visual level – to be handled and used. By working predominantly with ‘valueless’ things – natural, found, pre-existing and recycled materials – the only costs are time and skill and the value lies not in the cost of materials, but in the human effort. Following a course at West Dean College last February on ‘Jewellery from Found Materials’, she is now combining eco-silver and semi-precious stones with discarded copper wire, old washers and pipe olives to create jewellery. Having developed her tapestry weaving skills, she is restoring an old floor loom and plans to weave rugs – using recycled fabrics and old wool. Old curtains have been transformed into clothes “to honour the materials which already exist in the world.”

Looking forward to her tenth year, at the moment she is happy to regroup and consolidate – just working with current Workhouse Chapel exhibitors, but always on the quest for extraordinary new makers and artists to join H4C.  Let us all hope that the doors of the Workhouse Chapel will be open next Christmas and the fire lit ready for customers in that beautiful, creative space.

Feed the Birds

By
Editorial team
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As winter approaches, and temperatures begin to drop, food becomes scarcer, and more difficult to find for many of our wild birds. As a result, we begin to see an increase in garden bird visitors as they come in from the fields and hedgerows in search of extra food.

The numbers and variety of garden birds visiting the feeders in our back garden has increased hugely in the last few weeks. As well as the usual blackbirds, sparrows, robins, blue tits, great tits, and wrens, who we have become used to seeing all year round – there are now goldfinches, a pair of bullfinches, a female blackcap, a song thrush, and at least two families of long-tailed tits.

I adore long-tailed tits. It’s not only their impossibly cute looks that melt my heart, but the way they flock together in extended families – always looking out for one another – and the delightful chattering sounds they make as they land on the feeders. I love some of the old English names that long-tailed tits have been known by over the centuries too, such as mumruffin, long-tail titmouse, poke pudding, and (my favourite) bum-barrel – which stems from the domed oval shape of their nests.

To cater for long-tailed tits and other winter visitors of the avian kind, we try to keep our bird feeders well stocked throughout the winter. We fill them with the best quality bird food we can afford, including sunflower hearts, peanuts, and fat balls… as well as soaked sultanas and windfall apples, which we leave on the ground for blackbirds, thrushes, redwings and fieldfares. It is important, once you have an established feeding routine, not to change it, as the birds will come to rely upon you, and include your garden on their daily foraging circuits.

Equally important, is that you regularly clean your feeders, bird tables, dishes, and bird baths. Mouldy food, and droppings, encourage bacterial growth and transmit disease – so hygiene is paramount.

Maybe, this Christmas, you could help birds AND bring joy to family members and loved ones, by gifting bird feeders, together with a few months’ supply of bird food? It’s certainly a thought…

Further advice on bird hygiene, here: https://www.bto.org/how-you-can-help/providing-birds/feeding-garden-birds/hygiene

by Brigit Strawbridge
http://beestrawbridge.blogspot.com
Twitter: @B_Strawbridge

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