The Birds Who Stay

The frost comes first to the greenhouse glass. I can see my breath, and beyond the pane a robin bounces along the bed where the beans once were. The ground’s too hard for worms now. He’s watching me, waiting to see what sort of human I’ll be today — the kind who tidies or the kind who feeds.

Winter in Ireland strips the garden back to truth. When the insects sleep and the berries thin out, every garden becomes a test: will we keep life going, or let it slip away?

Many of our once-common garden birds now sit on orange or red lists — starlings, linnets, song thrushes. Their numbers fall quietly, one missing voice at a time. Yet the solution isn’t hidden in some distant sanctuary; it’s humming right outside our kitchens.

Hunger

Zack’s feeder is scuffed and sun-bleached now, but when the frost comes, the robins queue. Sunflower hearts, unsalted peanuts, and suet are winter fuel; fruit on a twig brings blackbirds and thrushes. Bread fills but doesn’t nourish, so we keep that for toast.

Clean feeders weekly with hot water. Think of them as bird tables, not bird hospitals.

Thirst

You’d think rain would be enough, but frozen water kills as surely as hunger. Each morning we crack the ice in a shallow dish by the greenhouse door. The moment we step back, they swoop in and sip like it’s midsummer.

If every garden in Ireland offered one dish of clean water, we’d save thousands of lives before spring.

Cold

The hedges we planted — hawthorn, holly, blackthorn — are thick now. At night, wrens tuck into them like they’re quilts. Ivy climbs the wall and stills the air inside. We let it be. Mess is habitat; neatness is famine.

Plant for shelter now and you’ll hear the difference at dusk. Start with a few metres of native hedge: see our Hedgerow Heroes guide, or tuck a sapling into a corner and let a pocket woodland begin.

Watchfulness

Each December we join BirdWatch Ireland’s Garden Bird Survey. Ten minutes a week, a notebook on the sill, tea cooling beside it. It isn’t just counting; it’s paying attention — noticing who visits, who’s missing, who’s holding on. Ordinary gardeners feeding real science.

Companionship

When the thaw finally comes, the robins will still be here. The feeder empty, the saucer muddy — but life carried through. That’s what a garden can do. Not just bloom; sustain.

This Winter: A Simple Promise

• Hang a feeder (keep it clean; use hearts, peanuts, suet).
• Fill a shallow dish with fresh water (break ice each morning).
• Plant or thicken a native hedge (holly, hawthorn, blackthorn, ivy left a little wild).
• Count visitors for ten minutes a week (make a note of the species).

Do it not out of pity, but partnership. The birds have never left us; they’re waiting for us to return the favour.

Who’s on the Front Line

• BirdWatch Ireland — research, protection, education.
• Irish Wildlife Trust — defending the habitats birds call home.
• Wildlife Rehabilitation Ireland — rescuing the injured and the lost.

Keep the Thread

Share a photo of your feeder or your winter visitors. Tag @BirdWatchIreland and @gardeningwell.ie. Use #GardeningwellBirds. Let Ireland see what care looks like.