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A garden development, the early days... |
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Written by Jos
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 Way back in the early days of the year 2000, I had occasion to sit and ponder, a new dream was taking shape! Around me, as the temperatures nudged the minus 20 mark, throngs of birds cut into the winter silence, filling the branches of the frozen garden, a plot carved from snow-laden forests and heavy from a haw frost over a centimetre thick. Such bird numbers were all the more remarkable given the almost blanket exodus of species that occurs every autumn - fleeing the approaching onset of the cold, Lithuania says goodbye to all its starlings, robins, larks and thrushes, not to forget virtually all its finches and buntings, many of its titmice, a slice of its woodpeckers and even many of the corvids. In short, all those ingredients of a successful British garden scene are totally absent - all 'our' birds are sitting there on 'your' bird table!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 15 November 2008 )
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Written by Jos
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As an indication of the costs of a feeding station, a few figures fromone example winter ( the 2006-2007 feeding season). Across the three feeding stations, just how heavy was it on my wallet? 
So, tallying back to the 1st October, the total consumption over the six month period came to: Peanuts - 213 kg Sunflower seeds (in husks) - 62 kg Sunflower seeds (hearts) - 50 kg Mixed seed - 54 kg Niger seed - 5 kg Fatballs - 180 And for the most painful statistic of the lot, the monetary value of all that nosh came to approximately 1750 litas (equivalent to £350). I do hope the birds appreciated it! To put it into context, the average monthly salary in Lithuania at that time was 1520 litas, the minimum salary just 550 litas! Fortunately it was a mild winter, hate to think what it could have been!! |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 16 August 2009 )
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Written by Jos
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With the garden in Vilnius now eight years old, many a sub-zero winter suffered, many a summer season come and gone, finally I thought it time to total up the species seen, and give a brief comment on status and abundance. So here it is, all species recorded in my garden since 2000, including those actually in the garden and those flying over. With the latest additions to the list in August 2009, the total currently stands at 109 species, not including the one or two that I have forgotten! |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 March 2010 )
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A Garden View 
