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This video explains how to observe and record birds in your garden and how to take part in organised birdwatch activities.
The guide covers preparing a viewing area, identifying common birds, recording sightings, placing feeders safely and creating a wildlife-friendly environment. It also explains how birdwatching helps support conservation and encourages more wildlife into your garden.
If you want to enjoy nature and learn more about visiting birds, these simple practical tips will help you get started with garden birdwatching.
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0:00
welcome to gardening with Ben your go-to
0:03
podcast for all things green and growing
0:06
in
0:07
2025 whether you are a seasoned Gardener
0:10
a budding Enthusiast or just curious
0:12
about cultivating your own slice of
0:15
nature you're in the right place join me
0:18
Ben as we explore practical tips
0:21
inspiring stories and the latest trends
0:23
in gardening to make your outdoor space
0:26
Bloom with life from allotment
0:28
Adventures to Wild life friendly
0:30
gardening I'm here to help you grow your
0:33
passion and reap the rewards so grab
0:35
your gloves roll up your sleeves and
0:38
let's get started on this year's
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gardening
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Journey hey everyone and welcome back to
0:47
gardening with Ben for another brand new
0:51
podcast it's Friday Friday's here the
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weekend is finally upon us pretty
0:58
soon so what is happening this weekend
1:02
it is the Big Bird Watch yes we will be
1:06
watching the birds The Feathered variety
1:09
of birds and we will be counting them to
1:12
see how many different varieties we see
1:15
or how many birds come down at once and
1:19
it's quite hard obviously you will uh
1:22
they say that it's best
1:23
to capture within an hour how many birds
1:27
you see at one time and and CU obviously
1:31
you'll see a blue it come have some seed
1:34
and then it'll fly off again but it's
1:36
how many birds you see in one go is how
1:39
it counts I believe I need to read up on
1:42
that but what can we do for the birds in
1:45
our garden how can we encourage the
1:47
birds to come down and what is the
1:50
purpose of bothering to feed the birds
1:53
in our garden
1:55
as obviously I love seeing the birds
1:59
down at my alotment I was down at the
2:02
alotment uh the last weekend and all I
2:05
could hear was the birds singing it was
2:08
absolutely beautiful and obviously
2:11
there's not many birds around at the
2:13
moment because some are migrated Etc
2:16
some are
2:17
hibernating and yeah you don't see as
2:20
many birds around at this time of year
2:22
but the birds that you do see are
2:24
absolutely gorgeous and we had the
2:27
Robbin come down in my Shedd the weekend
2:30
and it just sat there and I managed to
2:31
get a fantastic photo if you've not seen
2:34
that photo check it out it's on my
2:35
Instagram and on my Facebook and my goal
2:39
this weekend is going to be to try and
2:41
get a robin to come and land in my hand
2:43
and take a photo of it that is what I
2:46
want to try and do that would make an
2:47
absolutely fantastic
2:49
photo so but Robbins are really really
2:52
tame so hopefully we will get that Robin
2:55
to land in his hand and get that
2:58
photo and obviously different birds like
3:02
different seed or varieties out there
3:05
obviously you've got your fat balls
3:09
which uh your Robins like your Blu tis
3:12
like you've got your meal worms which
3:15
Robins again like you've got your
3:18
sunflower seeds and you've got
3:22
your uh peanuts as well there's many
3:26
different varieties out there you can
3:28
also help the birds the black birds that
3:32
are and get some sultanas and Masons
3:35
they absolutely love them so I purchased
3:37
some sultanas and Masons this weekend to
3:40
put out for them because I love seeing
3:42
the black birds as well the black birds
3:44
make a lovely singing sound while you're
3:46
down there we used to have some black
3:48
birds in our old house garden and you
3:50
used to walk down garden and they used
3:52
to like fly at you because theyve got
3:55
some babies in a nest nearby they were
3:57
really really protective of the babies
4:00
Birds but why should we encourage Birds
4:03
to our garden well the reason why we
4:05
need to encourage the birds to the
4:06
Garden is because they are natural
4:09
Predators they will come and they will
4:11
eat the slugs in your garden so if
4:14
you've got lots of birds coming down in
4:15
your garden the chances are they'll fly
4:17
into one of your vegetables and get the
4:19
Slugs the insects out of your vegetables
4:22
and out of your flowers so obviously
4:24
attracting the birds to your garden is
4:26
another thing but there is downsides
4:29
obviously they can attract rats they can
4:31
attract mice they can attract squirrels
4:33
to your garden I don't mind squirrels in
4:35
my garden I absolutely love seeing the
4:39
squirrels yes they can be a pain they
4:41
can pull stuff up and can eat some stuff
4:44
and they can eat all your seed in your
4:46
seed feeders and all the peanuts but I
4:50
don't mind seeing the squirrels down in
4:52
my garden and obviously we've got a cat
4:55
on our allotment site so if there's rats
4:57
and mice around the cat will catch so
5:00
everything works in its own way
5:02
obviously if you've got it in your
5:04
garden you're not you don't necessarily
5:06
want R some mice in your garden do you
5:09
but I don't mind on my allotment as long
5:11
as nothing's harming me I'm all for the
5:14
Wildlife In the
5:16
Garden and I'm going to try and do more
5:18
to encourage the wildlife in our garden
5:21
and one of the things what I did last
5:23
weekend is I must have spent about 30 on
5:26
bird
5:28
stuff uh uh this is my hobby at end of
5:31
the day I'd rather spend money on my
5:33
allotment than waste it away on
5:37
rubbish so we've been obviously getting
5:41
uh We've purchased some peanuts we've
5:44
purchased some bird seed we purchased
5:46
some sunflower seed we've purchased five
5:50
new bird feeders yes five so I've got
5:53
I'll have about nine up in total so
5:56
hopefully we'll be getting the birds
5:58
flock into our alotment
6:00
and enjoy them we B bought some um SE
6:04
balls we' bought some sew blocks to put
6:07
in our s block holders cuz we've got
6:09
some new ones of those this year so we
6:11
need to fill them up we've also got some
6:15
raisins and sultanas because we want to
6:17
feed the black birds down at the
6:19
alotment I want to see more black birds
6:20
down at my alotment and obviously the
6:23
different types of bird seed can attract
6:25
different birds so I'm hoping to start
6:27
attracting the green finishes and
6:30
chaffinches as obviously I always see
6:32
the blue tis and the Robbins down there
6:34
but I don't often see the chaffinches
6:39
or green fines down there so hopefully
6:42
we'll get lots more varieties of birds
6:45
coming and hopefully helping them and
6:48
looking after them because that's what
6:50
we want to do we want to attract the
6:51
birds down to our allotment I absolutely
6:53
love it we've got up three bird houses
6:57
now we've got two up for blue tis and
6:59
we've got one up for sparrows as well
7:03
and I'm looking at investing in getting
7:05
some Robbin houses as well so obviously
7:07
they're nesting nearby because we've got
7:09
lots of Robbins down on our plot so
7:11
they're obviously nesting somewhere but
7:14
what I I want to do is trying to attract
7:16
more more and more birds to my garden
7:18
and I'm even looking at getting a owl
7:21
house because my allotment is like not
7:24
too far away from like woods and stuff
7:27
and it's pretty an open site so if I
7:31
could attract an owl to our site that
7:33
would be absolutely fantastic so if
7:35
anybody's got any owl houses let me know
7:38
I've I've had a look online I've
7:40
researched them and I just fancy having
7:42
an owl on my
7:44
plot because I've got my Wildlife
7:46
cameras up and everything now so to see
7:49
an hourl on one of my Wildlife cameras
7:51
it be
7:52
phenomenal but we can we can try
7:54
different things there's plenty of
7:57
different houses out there for different
7:58
birds to come and visit the plot I just
8:01
want to do my little bit and encourage
8:03
the wildlife and like I said I've not
8:05
got a garden my allotment is my garden
8:08
so I Don't Mind Investing in putting
8:10
money into my plot and enjoying the
8:13
rewards as it it's the thing that helps
8:15
me with my mental health so I hope that
8:18
you're all going to get involved in the
8:19
Big Bird watch this
8:21
weekend even if it's just buying one
8:23
bird feeder as if you're wanting to get
8:26
involved like I went to Morrison's and
8:29
their bird feed over5 and it comes
8:32
filled with seed so you can just go out
8:34
and get one of those and stick it up and
8:37
if you want to get involved with on
8:39
Saturday and Sunday put it out on Friday
8:42
and a few days before the Big Bird Watch
8:46
and then the birds will be able to find
8:47
it and see it and then you'll be able to
8:49
get involved in the Big Bird watch at
8:51
the weekend and let me know how you get
8:54
on let me know what birds you see in
8:55
your garden I'd love to hear what you
8:58
get and hopefully we'll get get some
8:59
good footage down at the allotment
9:01
tomorrow cuz that's what we want some
9:03
decent footage and some great photos so
9:05
until next time everyone remember keep
9:08
smiling keep shining and keep gardening
9:10
with
9:14
everyone Thanks for tuning in to today's
9:17
episode of gardening with Ben I hope
9:20
you've enjoyed our chat and picked up
9:22
some tips to help your garden and
9:25
alotment Thrive don't forget to stay
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9:29
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9:32
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9:44
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lovers until next time everyone remember
9:49
keep smiling keep shining and keep
9:52
gardening with Ben
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