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It's the big bird watch this weekend.
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Welcome to Gardening with Ben and I hope
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that you're all well today. Yes, I
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always love the big bird watch time as I
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love to encourage the birds onto my a
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lotment and I've got so many birds
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coming down here even through the
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winter. We've got blue tits, we've got
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robins, we've got blackbirds, yes, we've
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got some pigeons and we have also just
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started getting some wagtails down at
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the plot. like I don't see but I've not
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seen wagtails on my plot before and now
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I've attracted them. They come in like
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the masses on my fat balls and they
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absolutely love them. So yeah, I'm
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loving seeing all the birds and getting
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the birds down to the a lotment. They
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will help with things as well cuz
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they'll keep an eye out for slugs and
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snails and insects and they'll take them
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with them as well. So it's great to
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encourage the birds to the plot. Yes, it
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can attract rats when you're feeding
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them and stuff like that. And also the
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squirrels. The squirrels absolutely
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divine my nut feeder. So, I've not been
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putting nuts out at the moment, but
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yeah, we've been getting so many birds
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come to our feeders. Now, next weekend,
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Saturday and Sunday is the big bird
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watch. And what that means is that you
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need to spend an hour watching your bird
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feeders. Whether you've got a
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conservatory at your house and you can
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sit in there in the warmth and watch
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them or whether you can peek through
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your shed, little observation area, and
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keep count of what birds you see in that
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hour. Yes, some birds might repeat
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themselves and come back again, but it's
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about recording them and sending them
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BB BP. I can't say it. So, yeah, it's
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about sending them off. you can go on
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the website and submit them and it's
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great to help keep a track of what birds
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we've got in our gardens and our a
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lotments because obviously they're on
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the decline but I love to encourage
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them. I've got some bird houses on my
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plot and one of the years when I first
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bought my bird houses, I've got some
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bird feeders nearby in my plum tree and
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I'd been feeding on throughout all the
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winters and it were coming up to around
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February, March time when um the birds
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start nesting and I put my birdouses up
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and literally within half an hour blue
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tits were going in and out of it. are
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like so impressed because I know
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sometimes you got to have them pointed
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the right way, birdhouses. So, make sure
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you're pointing them the right way. And
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I got some blue tits in it the first
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year. Absolutely amazing. And they laid
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the eggs and I saw the blue tits fledge
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and it was amazing to see. And like I
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said, they were flying in and out all
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the time coming back with worms and bugs
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and stuff for the babies. So it's great
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h encouraging the blue tits to the a
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lotment. Now one of my plot neighbors
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they had their bird house facing a
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different way and what they did they
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moved it to the same facing the same way
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mine was and they got blue tits in it
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straight away as well. So, make sure
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they are facing the right way and you
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you'll have to look it up because I
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can't remember which way they need to
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face. But yeah, make sure that they're
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facing the right way so that they go
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into them and hopefully lay some eggs as
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well. So, let me know if you're getting
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involved in the big bird watch this
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weekend. Let me know what birds you get
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in your garden. And until next time,
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everyone, remember, keep smiling, keep
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shining, and keep gardening with Ben,
