Up with the birds

Morning Song: The winning photograph in this month’s competition shows a young thrush full of song early in the morning, photographed by Sid Mosdell in Picton.

An Apple A Day: Pauline Reddecliffe captured this young waxeye enjoying a snack in the garden.

Worm’s Nightmare: Daniel Schindler found a nest full of hungry chicks in his garden at The Pot Shed on Rapaura Rd

Who Me? Matt Winter photographed this fledgling thrush perched on the fence in his backyard.

Classic Combination: Striking contrast colours in this photograph by Jock Douglas of a tui in a flax bush.

Out for a Stroll: Cute Californian quail from Andy Pincombe.

Feeding Time: Helen Rose-Wichman photographed this tui delving for nectar in her kowhai tree up the Onamalutu.

Country Home: The countryside is one big garden for many native birds such as this one photographed by Al White.

Bird’s Eye View: Nestled safely in the upper branches of a tree, this wood pigeon was undaunted when Yvonne Koller snapped it with her Canon Powershot SR 20 Zoom while weeding her garden at Moetapu Bay

Drinking from the flax flowers from Wendy Waghorn

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BLAIR ENSOR

Kingfisher: This little bird attracted attention outside the editorial offices of The Marlborough Express

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Home and Garden

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Birds form an integral relationship with gardens and Marlborough is home to a wide variety.

From nests to nature, spring chicks to hens, the October monthly photograph competition attracted a flock of amazing bird photographs. The winning photograph was taken by Picton resident Sid Mosdell, using a compact Panasonic digital camera.

"I was out in the garden early in the morning and saw the young thrush. It was just sitting there peacefully," he said. Sid rushed inside, grabbed his camera and carefully set up to photograph the thrush, which, he said, "just looked at me while I did it".

While he is not an overly keen gardener, Sid enjoys being in the garden, which is full of native plants and attracts a lot of birds.

Spring is a prolific time for birds in the garden, as well as a time to plan ahead to make a garden more attractive to birds, especially the native species.

No matter how big or small, a garden can provide shelter, food and nesting places for native birds in the city, says the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand.

Here are some tips from its website:

Grow native trees and shrubs that provide nectar, seeds or berries.

Select the native plants you grow, so that food is available all year.

Provide diverse habitats by grouping plants in mixed communities.

Grow plants of varied height together.

- The Marlborough Express

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