Dear CJ Customer
Welcome to the CJs newsletter for June.
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Your garden in June
We normally think of June as the month that sees that the "invasion of the Starlings", with feeding stations almost over-run with these clumsy, slightly awkward youngsters. A closer look should also see lots of young finches and tits, all in their own variation of the adult's plumage. In fact bird populations approach their annual peak between now and August and parents and youngsters alike will be very appreciative of supplementary seeds and live foods during this time of peak competition.
It isn't just the birds that are producing young at the moment; most of our wildlife will be releasing independent or semi-dependent young over the next few weeks. Sadly this inevitably means that there will be lots of casualties as the youngsters learn about the ways of this strange new world, but there are simple steps that we can all take to reduce the toll, such as securing soft fruit netting, covering water butts (or at least floating a sheet of polystyrene or whatever on the surface) and keeping our cats indoors at first and last light when most creatures are particularly vulnerable.
Aside from the noise of all the youngsters June is generally regarded as being a quiet month. In fact many keen birdwatchers turn their binoculars to dragonflies from now until the middle of July!
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Things to do this month
- Prepare your feeding stations for one of the busiest times of the year!
- Continue to offer protein-rich foods to help young birds and busy parents.
 Look out for potential fledgling traps such as loose fruit netting, open water butts, steep-sided ponds and, of course, pet cats. If possible please fit a bell to your cat's collar and keep him or her indoors at the beginning and end of the day, when the youngsters are at their most vulnerable.
- Tread carefully in the long grass - particularly if you're using a strimmer! The vegetation could be concealing hedgehogs and their youngsters, plus frogs, toads and newts, not to mention reptiles such as slow worms or, if you're very lucky, a grass snake. A reader who works as a paramedic also asks us to point out that he and his colleagues see casualties every year who didn't know they had a wasps' nest in their garden until the strimmer found it for them. Petrol strimmers in particular can be so noisy that it is easy to get mesmerised and not notice the rising wasps until it's too late, so that's a very good additional reason to look out for all sorts of wildlife when strimming!
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New products
CJ Wildlife Mug Collection
An attractive assortment of porcelain mugs featuring delightful wildlife illustrations. 7 to collect.
For more information and to buy, click here.
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Alpine Feeding Table
An attractive wooden table, ideal for feeding seed
mixes to smaller birds.
For more information and to buy, click here.
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The Butterfly Friendly Garden
Make your garden the perfect place for butterflies. Discover the best plants to attract butterflies and moths with this lavishly illustrated, remarkable new guide and find out how your garden can be a mini nature reserve.
For more information and to buy, click here.
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Bumblebees
A visually stimulating book to inspire gardeners and nature watchers alike. Conservation is the main theme, with Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species listed and the European perspective on bumblebees with notes on their decline.
For more infotmation and to buy, click here.
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Recommended Reading
Guide to Garden Wildlife
by Richard Lewington
A superb new guide to the full range of wildlife in your garden. From Blue Tits to bumblebees, alderflies to Yellowhammers or roe deer to water fleas; however you judge it, this guide has got it covered!
Illustrated by Richard Lewington, acknowledged as one of the finest natural history artists in Europe, with the birds by his brother, Ian, one of our most respected bird artists. The book includes an extensive layperson's introduction to the ecology of the garden and the incredible array of animals that can be found there. Contains more than 900 colour artworks and photographs of over 500 species likely to be found in a garden in Great Britain and Ireland, with an easy-to-use format with artwork plates opposite text descriptions.
Also includes detailed descriptions and information on the life history, behaviour and occurrence of each species as well as practical information on creating a pond for wildlife, making nest boxes and feeding birds. Because of the breadth of coverage this book won't necessarily identify some of the smaller creatures down to species, but it should help you to identify to at least family level, so it's the ideal title if you want to know whether it's an alderfly or a caddisfly on the window, for instance.
For more information and to buy, click here.
This book makes an ideal companion for one of our favourite titles: No Nettles Required - the Truth about Wildlife Gardening, written by Ken Thompson, who also wrote the introduction for Guide to Garden Wildlife.
For a wider selection of natural history titles, why not visit our sister company,
Subbuteo Natural History Books?
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Wildlife news
Bat boxes to help Ireland's most misundersood mammal
Significant steps are being taken to help bats in County Clare as the Clare Bat Project aims to erect specialist roosting boxes at five sites in the county.
Of the ten species of bat in Ireland and all but one of them can be found in County Clare, making the area of European importance for these enigmatic creatures.
You can read the full story here.
Hedgerows are important for people and wildlife
A Green Party TD has called on local authorities to comply with the law and protect hedgerows during the breeding season.
Ireland's hedgerows are an important part of the landscape, for their beauty as well as being a vital wildlife habitat, and she urges local authorities not to break the law by damaging them at this crucial time of the year.
For the full story, visit: www.kilkennyadvertiser.ie/index.php?aid=9718
Minister pledges tighter rules to protect wildlife
Minister for the Environment John Gormley is to tighten the enforcement of wildlife legislation in the wake of a key report.
He has increased the National Parks and Wildlife Service by nearly 40 per cent to help it to meet its obligations, noting that, for instance, 99 per cent of Ireland's raised bogs have gone and fewer than 10 per cent of the surviving bogs have Special Area of Conservation Status.
There's lots more information at www.ireland.com
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June Codeword Puzzle
Enter this month's Codeword Puzzle, correctly guess the name of the mystery bird, and you could win an "Attracting Garden Birds DVD!"
The puzzle is online now.
Click here to enter.
Congratulations to our May winner, Susan Follin from Co. Kerry, who successfully completed the puzzle and correctly identified the mystery bird as Barn Owl.
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Contacting Us
If you have any questions about caring for birds and other wildlife in your garden, please email us at advice@birdfood.ie, or visit www.birdfood.ie.
Best wishes and happy
bird feeding!
All at CJ WildBird Foods
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