Birds, boars and earth
Oct 7th, 2008 by Birdy Trish
A few days ago I remembered that ages ago I’d been told that wild boar used to help birds survive the winter.
I was really lucky that I was sent a comment (thanks Paul). In this comment was a link to a website
http://www.britishwildboar.org.uk/
Hi Trisha,
Thank you for the email.I am familiar with small birds feeding in areas churned up by wild boar, and I would go as far to say this probably helps the birds to find food at all times of the year, and not just the winter period.
I say this because as part of some research I was involved in, I watched wild boar feeding in woodland in East Sussex throughout the whole year. Frequently I saw small birds picking over the newly exposed soil - after seeds, grubs, insects and the like. Robins were always there, as were chaffinches and blackbirds. Magpies also showed an interest and would occasionally perch on the wild boar’s back, as they do on sheep, for example.
The bare soil exposed by the wild boars’ rooting also serves as a seed bed whereby dormant seeds or pioneering species can get a foothold. If the rooting occurred in a monoculture of grasses or bluebells, for example, a greater diversity of plant life would result, with its accompanying insect life, which in turn is preyed upon up by birds and so on up the food chain. Thus the wild boars’ rooting also benefits the birds is a less obvious way. The grasses and bluebells will eventually outcompete and crowd out the flowers but by then another patch would have been rooted and the cycle repeats.
The moral of the story is that wild boar are very good for woodland ecology, including the bird life - but then perhaps I am biased! However, to even things up, wild boar are not so good for ground nesting birds such as pheasants or woodcocks, as they will predate the eggs of such ground nesting birds. This is only really a problem on shooting estates where they want the game birds to occur in artificially high numbers to keep the shooters happy
Martin
www.wildboarconsultancy.org.uk
www.britishwildboar.org.uk-0-0-0-0-I‘ve been thinking of ways to feed birds that does not use bird food. I know I’ll always use bird food but have been wondering about natural ways.One of the ways was to plant some more bushes like hawthorn or bramble.In winter I always keep a small patch of grass free from snow or ice. I sometimes cover the area with something on an evening and sometimes pour hot water over it!! This does get results. I often get birds on that patch of grass.Am now thinking of trying to keep some soil ‘open’ all winter. We’ll see if I do it.
But it seems that open ground is good for birds all the time. Obvious I suppose.
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