By Greta Wickham Galston District Garden Club
Unfortunately, the Galston District Garden Club is postponing meetings until further notice due to the current Covid restrictions.
We usually meet on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in the Galston Community Hall, Arcadia Road, Galston at 7.30pm. Galston District Garden Club
The Galston Open Gardens Weekend usually planned for October is being rescheduled for the weekend of 19th, 20th, and 21st November 2021. Hopefully, by then the COVID situation will stabilize to the point that we can safely run the event. Galston District Garden Club
A final decision will have to be made about the first-week in October to allow six weeks to organize and publicize the event.If circumstances do not allow us to run the event in November then a date early in 2022 will be proposed. The club would like to try and maintain a positive attitude in these testing times and is determined not to abandon our Open Gardens Weekend. Even scaled back event should give hope and encouragement to many who look forward to visiting the gardens each year.
In last month’s newsletter, I wrote about backyard birdbaths and was surprised to be sent a photo of such a bath in the backyard of a friend who lives in Galston. This friend also included mirror for the birds to see their reflections. Just look at the birds his bath attracts.
Apart from birdbaths, planting bird attracting plants such as Callistemon and grevilleas will attract birds into your backyard these plants are a rich source of nectar and pollen. To attract small birds plant grevilleas, but not too many, and spread them out to provide a dense native understory that will give the little birds somewhere to hide. The aim is to provide a complex habitat that will suit a lot of different species.
Many people feed meat to magpies, kookaburras and butcherbirds, and seed also for lorikeets, rosellas, cockatoos and other parrots. Feeding concentrates birds into unnaturally small spaces and the most problematic aspect of that is the potential for spreading disease.
If you feed birds on a platform, you have to keep it clean by sweeping it with a brush and washing it down with vinegar every day. You may be surprised to know the food we provide is a tiny proportion of their diet. It is important to offer high-quality food. Mince is a terrible food for meat-eating birds,for instance.
Commercial dog or cat food – tinned, fresh or dry-,is the best choice for magpies, while parrots need seed produced by the pet food supplier rather than what the supermarket’s package as “wild bird” seed. If you do feed birds, only feed them a little.
Our connection with anything wild is disappearing in increased urbanisation, and yet with this simple thing – putting some food on the end of the verandah – you can get up close to a truly wild, free-flying bird. Try to be a responsible host for your guests. You don’t want them to get sick or have a bad experience. You want them to come back
(Reference for this article comes from:” Birds at My Table: Why We Feed Wild Birds and Why it Matters by Daryl Jones.) Galston District Garden Club
For more information regarding the Galston District Garden Club please visit our website, www.galstongardenclub.com.au or [email protected].
