In This Issue
"Every single thing we do is driven at the moment by trying to manage the risk to customers and staff"
Four tips to maximise your garden centre on a budget
Hillier to Open New Garden Centre at Syon Park Estate
British nurseries are amongst the most eco-friendly on the planet, not that you’d know from watching Gardeners’ World
Restaurant gets star billing at redeveloped centre
GTN's Greatest Christmas Awards are back!
Change at the top for family-run Highfield Garden World
Sales jump by 20% to record mid-November levels
Plants are selling at record levels during Lockdown 2
Container issues continue to escalate at UK ports 
HTA launches Sustainability Roadmap to guide UK horticulture towards leading edge of sustainable business practice
The Most Jumperful Time of the Year Fundraiser starts tomorrow!
Work starts on site for largest Dobbies in South West
Possible Christmas tree shortage due to Danish mink cull
Henry Bell clinches deal with Future Marketing Group
Janssens Greenhouses – over 70 years of heritage
Garden centre gets new appearance thanks to Smiemans
GTN November issue now on-line
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Garden centre customers find happiness in houseplants in October
Two-thirds more gardening this Autumn – Wow!
End of season pot bargains and houseplant care star
HTA reacts to new December tier arrangements
Gonks fly through tills as Christmas sales jump up
A Christmas feast for your garden birds
The best of last week's
A Perfect Storm Hits the Garden Market
Sales fall by 5.5% in Lockdown 2
“The Smart Show must go on…line!”
Five creative ways to enhance your takeaway service during lockdown
Profits up at Notcutts in year to February 2020
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
British Garden Centres open their 58th centre at Thatcham
Barton Grange Christmas 2020 - Exclusive GTN Xtra Photo Tour
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to the GTN Bestsellers printed weekly newsletter
All the latest news from the world of pet products
Back to business for industry exhibitions
Tong donates stock to South Yorkshire dog rescue charity
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Email trevor@pottingshedpress.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 07973 504214


A Christmas feast for your garden birds

Christmas may look different for many of us this year, but your garden birds will be just as hungry as ever! In the winter there’s less food available in the countryside so any food you put out in your garden or balcony will be very gratefully received.

 

Here’s a quick RSPB guide to what you can put out and foods to avoid.

 

You can always get in the holiday spirit and give the birds some of your Christmas meal leftovers - they’ll love some chopped unsalted bacon rind, dried fruit, old apples and pears and crumbled cheese.

 

Cooking fat from your Sunday roast or Christmas turkey can stick their wings together, however, making it impossible for them to keep dry and warm, so keep that for yourself (perhaps you could make a lovely stock?). Some other foods can also be dangerous for birds, including dried coconut, cooked porridge oats, and milk, so be sure to check on the RSPB website just in case. 

 

Packaged bird food is always a lovely present for the birds as well - sparrows, tits and finches will all visit feeders containing nuts, fat or seed mixtures with sunflower hearts, flaked maize, millet and nyjer seed. The insect-eaters, the dunnocks, robins, starlings, and wrens for example, prefer mealworms but will eat other types of food too. Suet-based products are particularly calorific so can be a big boost in getting your birds through the colder nights.

 

Let’s not forget the drink side of the meal! Birds are slightly easier to cater for than your loved ones in this case – all they need is fresh water for drinking and bathing. This can be harder for birds to find in winter as ponds start to freeze, but you can keep your birdbath ice-free by floating a ping pong ball on the surface. The slightest gust of wind will keep the ball moving and stop the water turning to ice.

 

You can also help the birds in your neighbourhood by taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch! Every year for the past four decades the RSPB has asked people to look out their window or head to their local park and let us know what birds they see over the course of an hour. This helps us to keep track of how garden birds are faring, and with about half a million people taking part every year it is now the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.

 

You can take part on the 29, 30, or 31 January 2021, so for your FREE Big Garden Birdwatch guide, which includes a bird identification chart, top tips for your birdwatch, RSPB shop voucher, plus advice on how to help you attract wildlife to your garden, text BIRD to 70030 or visit www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Registration opens 9 December 2020. 

 

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