How you can help Britain's birds survive this winter

There’s starling(s), long-tailed tit(s), blue tit(s), great tit(s), and numerous more members of the great avian family who rely on people to help them survive the British winter.

Winters can take a heavy toll on Britain’s birds. Months of ice and snow, biting north-easterly winds, water and earth frozen hard as iron, and it’s not hard to see why certain species have all but disappeared from many gardens.

We can help by putting out food regularly – meal worms, seed, proprietary bird food, even bread if you must, but no matter how much we humans do to try to stem the fall in numbers, some common breeds appear to becoming a vanishing breed.

Just how hard their numbers have been hit in recent years is difficult to tell, but next week everyone has the chance to try to put the record straight.

Between 24 and 26 January, the RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch will ask for the nation’s help in counting garden birds.

All you are asked to do is spend an hour recording the avian visitors which land in your garden (schools can also take part) and then let the RSPB know the results at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch. Then it’s up to the conservation charity to work out what’s happening to the nation’s birds.

Britain’s birds have never needed our help as much as they do today, so don’t just spend one hour counting them – remember to feed them, give them a source of water to drink and in which to bathe, and, even better, provide habitat for them.

Daphne

Daphne’s are among the finest of all those trees and shrubs to flower in midwinter and spring.

Daphne mezereum, whose sweet, fragrant flowers seem to thrive in February’s bitter frosts, has a home in many a garden, but there is another daphne that can – and often does – start to bloom even earlier, particularly if it has a sheltered site where it can gain protection from cold winter winds.

Daphne odora rubra is a slightly tender evergreen, surviving best where it can find shelter and make the most of what little sun there is at this time of the year. It’s not fussy about soil, as long as it’s not heavy clay and too wet. An annual mulch is much appreciated.

This is not a showy shrub and it can be a bit temperamental in its early years, but plant it in light shade and let it establish itself and its superb scent will transform your garden.

You’ll more than likely smell the plant before you see it - the fragrance is so strong that even the most gentle of breezes will carry it throughout the neighbourhood.

Daphne odora rubra is also excellent as a cut flower – the shortish stems make it ideal for bringing indoors, popping into a small vase and leaving to perfume a room, if not the whole house.

It rarely grows to more than one metre in height and the same in width, so it’s a good choice for the smaller garden. It will even grow where there’s quite a lot of shade although it may not flower quite so vigorously.

There is also a variegated form of the shrub – D odora ‘Variegata’ – whose foliage is splashed with yellow and whose blooms are almost purple.

Lilies

Normally, you’d plant lilies in autumn when the soil is still warm, but sometimes things get in the way and the job doesn’t get done.

Don’t despair – it’s still possible to have fantastically-fragrant lilies blooming beautifully in your garden this summer.

Even if the January soil is too wet or too frozen, there are still pots – containers that can be filled with plump lily bulbs to bloom indoors when there is still little life in the outdoors.

Nowadays, the majority of lilies are grown in this way because the gardener can provide them with the ideal conditions – a well-drained, fertile soil and a sunny position.

They will flower earlier than those lilies grown in open ground, but they will require more care and attention. Always try to plant the bulbs as soon as you get them, incorporating plenty of well-rotted leafmould or manure, and a helping of coarse sand to improve drainage. And a bit of bonemeal will be much appreciated.

Use crocks (pieces of broken clay plantpots, not the fashion footwear) to cover the holes at the base of the pot, then plant the bulbs three or even four inches below the soil/compost (peat-free, multi-purpose compost is ideal). Water well and stand the pot(s) in a light spot.

After a few weeks fresh growth will appear and you should have fragrant flowers in late spring.

When the lilies have finished flowering, pop the pots into a cool greenhouse where they can be kept dry until it’s time to bring them out again the following year. Lift them gently, renew the compost and the cycle begins again.

After a couple of years of this treatment, plant the bulbs in the open garden and buy new – the best and healthiest-looking you can afford - for containers.