National Nestbox Week will take place on 14th - 21st February 2025.
Author: lesley
Despite the wet weather in October, we managed to get our winter wheat drilled and we are still delighted with the performance of our new drill. This year we are trying a new wheat variety called 'Bamford' which is a soft milling wheat. If it grows the way we would like it to, and it meets the spec next harvest, it will go off to Spain for Spanish bread making. So much, however, will depend on the weather at harvest time. The other wheats we have planted are Grade 1 and 2 hard wheats, and these will stay in the UK for bread making if we get the quality. So many outcomes are determined by the weather!
We finally have our new grain store up. The wet weather delayed the start of the project, but it is now done! The whole barn was erected in 10 days by only 2 chaps working together. It was quite incredible to witness. All elements of the barn arrived pre-made and the guys used state of the art cherry-pickers to manoeuvre all the components into place. It was very impressive.
This new addition will allow us to store a lot more grain on the farm (approx. 14,000 tonnes). This will ultimately save us a lot of money, since much of our wheat and barley currently has to go to a central store which incurs significant transport and storage charges. There are also hefty charges for looking after the grain—things like drying charges and even cooling charges on hot summer days! So it makes financial sense to be able to do it ourselves.
Stage 2 for us is to complete the barn so that it's ready for harvest 2025. We still have to put down concrete, install doors and electricity for grain drying, all of which are significant costs—but we are committed now!
10% off winter warmers!
Stock up on these feeds to help your birds cope with the cold weather. We're currently offering a 10% DISCOUNT on all of these products—but that offer ends at midnight on Saturday 14th December, so be quick!
Christmas Crumble™
The robin's favourite!
A super high-energy seed mix with delicious suet and crunchy mealworms. Christmas Crumble™ is a delicious, festive choice that's sure to be appreciated when the weather is chilly.
Tidy Garden Suet Boost™
Supreme food for winter!
Tidy Garden Suet Boost™ is a high-energy seed mix with added suet. A really good choice for this cold weather!
Classic Peanuts
Wholesome, high-quality peanuts for wild birds.
Our Classic Peanuts have a really high oil content, which adds calories and helps garden birds to fend off the cold.
Insect Suet Pellets
Delicious insect-flavoured suet in bite-sized nibbles!
These high-energy Insect Suet Pellets will stay soft and digestible even during the coldest of days.
Christmas gifts
Here at Really Wild Bird Food, we stock a fab variety of Christmas presents for bird lovers and wildlife enthusiasts. Click the link below to have a browse!
CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR BIRD LOVERS
And of course, what could be a nicer gift than some gift vouchers to spend with us this winter?
Christmas in our house certainly won't be relaxing this year, because we have a new family member.
Meet Liza! She is now 10 weeks old and and a bundle of trouble. I am not sure how wise it will be to put up a Christmas tree...we may have to go bauble and tinsel free.
Enjoy your birds, and don't forget to make the most of our winter warmer savings—on offer until 14th December.
With very best wishes,
Lesley (and Liza!)
Brrr! It's snowing in many parts of the UK and very cold in most! Temperatures have plunged as cold Arctic air has swept across the UK, and we need to act quickly to help our garden birds. Snowy conditions make it difficult. The variety and abundance of natural food sources has been challenging this year. You may have noticed how sparse insects have been, and the autumnal hedgerows have been very scarce of fruit and berries. So this cold snap has added more challenging times for garden birds.
We managed to get the main of our harvest into the shed in good time, with crop results mirroring what seems to have happened across most of the UK: some crops yielding exceptionally well and some surprisingly badly, mainly due to the atrocious weather we have had all year.
Richard has a rain gauge in the garden which measures rainfall with a fair degree of accuracy. A 'normal' year's rain here on the farm (although the concept of 'normality' is something far removed these days!) would be around 33 inches, but from 1st October 2023 to 30th September 2024, we had 60 inches of rain - an incredible 5 feet!
Our High Energy Fledgling Mix™ has done its work for the season. But here's one more chance to buy some - please place your order before Thursday 15th August!
The family says 'thank you'!
Voted Britain's favourite bird in 2015, taking over 34% of the vote and beating the barn owl (12%) into a distant second place, robins are a familiar sight across Great Britain and Ireland.
The round, red-breasted little birds are most often associated with Christmas, but they're actually present all year round across the islands. Robins can be found in woodland and farmland, and in both urban and suburban settings. Their musical song can be heard day and night (thanks to street lighting)—if you live in the UK, the distinctive sound will almost certainly be familiar to you, even if you never realised it belonged to the robin!
June is a month that hosts a number of farming events, in what is usually a quieter work month ahead of a busy harvest season. It's a good time for farmers to meet socially and attend educational events.
This is the time of year when crops are growing like crazy and passing through their growth stages very quickly. This means that we have to be extremely vigilant, inspecting them regularly.
Steve, our agronomist, visits regularly to check crop health and advise on the prevention of fungal disease by the application of fungicides. Getting the correct timing for fungicide applications for wheat can be difficult (because of the very rapid growth) but it is extremely important.
