Winter casts long shadow

IT’S obvious from the letters and emails I get that many readers of this page have a serious interest in feeding garden birds.

Several of them have contacted me recently because they are worried about a decline in the number of birds visiting their feeders.

One man feeds rooks, jackdaws and starlings on a major scale. His wife puts out a loaf of wholemeal bread twice daily, which must have some impact on the household grocery bills. But in the past few weeks much of the bread has remained uneaten and he’s worried that the birds may have contracted some disease.