In the depths of the hot summer we had installed a Belfast sink in the front garden to serve as a watering hole for the increasing amounts of wildlife that hone in on our tiny green patch. The small bird bath and dog bowl offerings that we had previously provided had seemed insufficient and required daily (sometimes twice daily) top ups to keep up with demands in the heat of the moment.
However, the water in our expanded 'pond' has been disappearing quickly too, to the extent that I was thinking there might be a leak. Daily sips from next doors cats, the flock of 40 odd sparrows, and the clumsy bathing antics of the collared doves still didn't seem to account for the daily loss. There had however been no puddle under the sink to indicate a leak. I knew that the badgers had utilised the previous dog bowl facility I had provided (evidenced by the gathering of jowly grit the next morning after a fresh filling the night before). However despite this, I don't think I had fully accounted for the slurpability of the black and white bandits when it comes to a good water supply.
After another watering can of water was emptied into the depleted sink, I made a mental note to borrow one of the trail cameras from work again and duly brought it home the next evening. The results indicated that indeed I had very much underestimated the value of the new bar we had recently opened in our front garden for our black and white clientele. At least 30 seconds (that is as much as I had set each clip to record) of slurping was sucking up the pondy cocktail on occasions throughout the night. The water obviously tastes a whole lot better with green garnishes from the pond than straight from a clean dog bowl.
Humorous slurping noises aside (turn up the volume on the top clip), this all very much highlighted something I am quite passionate about. Many people choose to feed birds (I do and it is possibly one of the reasons for the increased sparrow population in our garden over the years - along with the tall safe vegetation we offer) but many forget that more importantly wildlife needs a good clean source of water. It may have been highlighted more this summer but the truth is, wildlife needs this all year round, including during icy winter periods too. So dog bowl, pond, sink, washing up bowl, or old re purposed/reused plastic container; fill it up and stick it out there and you'd be amazed what might come along and set up its bar stool in your garden.
However, the water in our expanded 'pond' has been disappearing quickly too, to the extent that I was thinking there might be a leak. Daily sips from next doors cats, the flock of 40 odd sparrows, and the clumsy bathing antics of the collared doves still didn't seem to account for the daily loss. There had however been no puddle under the sink to indicate a leak. I knew that the badgers had utilised the previous dog bowl facility I had provided (evidenced by the gathering of jowly grit the next morning after a fresh filling the night before). However despite this, I don't think I had fully accounted for the slurpability of the black and white bandits when it comes to a good water supply.
After another watering can of water was emptied into the depleted sink, I made a mental note to borrow one of the trail cameras from work again and duly brought it home the next evening. The results indicated that indeed I had very much underestimated the value of the new bar we had recently opened in our front garden for our black and white clientele. At least 30 seconds (that is as much as I had set each clip to record) of slurping was sucking up the pondy cocktail on occasions throughout the night. The water obviously tastes a whole lot better with green garnishes from the pond than straight from a clean dog bowl.
Humorous slurping noises aside (turn up the volume on the top clip), this all very much highlighted something I am quite passionate about. Many people choose to feed birds (I do and it is possibly one of the reasons for the increased sparrow population in our garden over the years - along with the tall safe vegetation we offer) but many forget that more importantly wildlife needs a good clean source of water. It may have been highlighted more this summer but the truth is, wildlife needs this all year round, including during icy winter periods too. So dog bowl, pond, sink, washing up bowl, or old re purposed/reused plastic container; fill it up and stick it out there and you'd be amazed what might come along and set up its bar stool in your garden.
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