{"id":3942,"date":"2021-01-05T14:52:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T14:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?p=3942"},"modified":"2021-01-05T14:53:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T14:53:18","slug":"an-apple-a-day-helps-to-keep-the-hunger-away-for-winter-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/?p=3942","title":{"rendered":"An apple a day helps to keep the hunger away for winter birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some wildlife followers may see winter as a season of relative emptiness and in some ways a time that is almost unused by nature itself.\u00a0 To others the return of falling snow and ice over the past few days may create a mini wild arctic landscape of the mind right on our doorsteps.\u00a0 The bounty of local hawthorn berries along Jerry Clay Lane and Trough Well Lane at Wrenthorpe have been hungrily foraged by redwing, fieldfare, mistle thrush and blackbirds.\u00a0 Now their attention is turning to plantings in urban areas and in particular gardens with apple trees.\u00a0 Indeed, blackbirds and mistle thrush have become obsessive feeders of fallen apples and are now increasingly unfriendly to any other birds attempting to muscle in on their valuable windfalls.\u00a0 Attached photos show a mistle thrush in between courses in a small orchard close to Jerry Clay Lane and a blackbird standing guard over fallen apples at Wrenthorpe Road.<\/p>\n

\"blackbird<\/a>

blackbird feeding on apples at Wrenthorpe Road.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"blackbird<\/a>

blackbird feeding on apples at Wrenthorpe Road.<\/p><\/div>\n

Many birds and animals are now fighting for survival to take them through the worst of the weather to spring.\u00a0 Just putting out any unwanted apples on the lawn and keeping bird feeders topped up, together with a supply of fresh water can make a massive difference to them and repay us with memorable close-up views of nature in our own backyard.\u00a0 Attached photos show close encounters with Grey squirrel and nuthatch at Nostell Priory by the bottom lake over the New Year period.<\/p>\n

\"Grey<\/a>

Grey squirrel at Nostell Priory<\/p><\/div>\n

\"nuthatch<\/a>

nuthatch at Nostell Priory<\/p><\/div>\n

Together with the bird sightings our local lockdown walks have also revealed several wildflowers in bloom even at this time of year.\u00a0 These include red deadnettle, daisy, dandelion, cow parsley and hogweed.\u00a0 Perhaps winter is not so bleak after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some wildlife followers may see winter as a season of relative emptiness and in some ways a time that is almost unused by nature itself.\u00a0 To others the return of falling snow and ice over the past few days may … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[463,44,462,57,461],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3942"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3948,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions\/3948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wakefieldnaturalists.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}