We have been in contact with Jan for ages, and it is with great pleasure that we welcome her aboard, not only as a guest blogger, but as a Co. Durham representative for the CFZ. With Davy Curtis already at the helm in the country, the two of them will make a dream team par excellence... You’ve probably noticed we’ve had a bit of snow in the UK of late. In the frozen North here in the High North Pennines, it is 3 foot deep in the fields, drifting to 5 foot by the dry stone walls. The sanctuary cats are sleeping in the warmth of the kitchen, dreaming of summertime, but outside its below zero.
With the cats all snug and snoring indoors, it’s a good time to catch up on what birds are visiting the sanctuary’s nuts (so to speak) and the other bird-feeding stations we have round the place.
We have the usual suspects – from robins to starlings; jackdaws raiding the bird table; occasional sparrow hawks, various songbirds... but it’s the wrens I find the most amazing.
These little brown specks of bird-kind weigh around the same as a £1 coin (as opposed to the blue tit which weighs the same as a £2 coin, or the diminutive goldcrest at a mere 20 pence) and they live life at a fast rate. They sing at a fast rate too – putting everything into it with enough effort to actually make the bird tremble, and it’s surprisingly loud for the size of the bird.
They are insectivores – eating spiders, tiny insects and the odd caterpillar, which it finds by poking around in the dry stone walls, crevices and under guttering... and here’s the thing that I find totally amazing.
Outdoors, in sub-zero temperatures, with gale force something winds blowing the snow into all those nooks and crannies, HOW can it find enough food to keep it going? I know that in times of hardship, they will take seeds and/or cheese, but they are by nature invertebrate eaters, and would do themselves harm if they ate too much of the wrong sort of food.
I am starting a new business over the next 12 months, focusing on helping people deal with animal-related phobias, and I have been looking for various spiders, slugs and similar beasts in preparation for this venture... and can I find even ONE spider out there in the winter weather? And yet this tiny Troglodytes troglodytes not only finds enough food to keep itself alive, but builds up enough surplus body weight and condition to be in prime breeding condition in just 10 weeks time!
Is it just me, or is this just fantastic?
Jan Edwards, Head of Animal Care
Farplace Animal Rescue - the no-kill animal sanctuary
Farplace, Sidehead, Westgate, County Durham, DL13 1LE
www.farplace.org.uk
With the cats all snug and snoring indoors, it’s a good time to catch up on what birds are visiting the sanctuary’s nuts (so to speak) and the other bird-feeding stations we have round the place.
We have the usual suspects – from robins to starlings; jackdaws raiding the bird table; occasional sparrow hawks, various songbirds... but it’s the wrens I find the most amazing.
These little brown specks of bird-kind weigh around the same as a £1 coin (as opposed to the blue tit which weighs the same as a £2 coin, or the diminutive goldcrest at a mere 20 pence) and they live life at a fast rate. They sing at a fast rate too – putting everything into it with enough effort to actually make the bird tremble, and it’s surprisingly loud for the size of the bird.
They are insectivores – eating spiders, tiny insects and the odd caterpillar, which it finds by poking around in the dry stone walls, crevices and under guttering... and here’s the thing that I find totally amazing.
Outdoors, in sub-zero temperatures, with gale force something winds blowing the snow into all those nooks and crannies, HOW can it find enough food to keep it going? I know that in times of hardship, they will take seeds and/or cheese, but they are by nature invertebrate eaters, and would do themselves harm if they ate too much of the wrong sort of food.
I am starting a new business over the next 12 months, focusing on helping people deal with animal-related phobias, and I have been looking for various spiders, slugs and similar beasts in preparation for this venture... and can I find even ONE spider out there in the winter weather? And yet this tiny Troglodytes troglodytes not only finds enough food to keep itself alive, but builds up enough surplus body weight and condition to be in prime breeding condition in just 10 weeks time!
Is it just me, or is this just fantastic?
Jan Edwards, Head of Animal Care
Farplace Animal Rescue - the no-kill animal sanctuary
Farplace, Sidehead, Westgate, County Durham, DL13 1LE
www.farplace.org.uk
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