Readers mail….
From Richard Chamberlain….
Hello Chris,
We are lucky enough to have a garden with quite a lot of wildlife, especially birds. Perhaps it is because we put bird seed and a shallow dish of water down for them most days.
As we all know, our summers are very hot and dry, so the birds must struggle to find any water to drink so as well as bird seed, a shallow dish of water is very welcome for them away from where cats can get them.
Recently, we were lucky enough to see this lovely Song Thrush come down in our garden. I don’t know whether they are rare in Northern Cyprus, but I think even in the UK the Song Thrush is fast disappearing like many other birds, so to see one here is very surprising and pleasing.
The sparrows seem to be the most common birds around. They are in our garden anyway. When we put the bird seed down, they seem to be waiting in the surrounding trees and bushes until I go away, then they swoop down and quickly devour all the seed and enjoy the fresh water we provide.
We watch from our kitchen window and it is very pleasing to see them enjoying the seed and water. It would be nice if the readers of this article would also put down water in a shallow dish away from where cats are! We need to take care of our wildlife as much as possible with the cruel practice of shooting birds and catching them in nets and sticky lime branches in some parts of Cyprus.
Best wishes
Richard
