A few days ago, I watched a YouTube video from content creator and maker Emma at Plan Inspire Create. It was all about selecting a word of the year, thinking about different meanings for the word and setting some intentions for the year based on the term. As I was watching, I was aware that we are almost half way through January, which might seem a little bit late for such an activity but, then I thought about the fact that there are still eleven and a half months remaining, so plenty of time to set intentions and live by the selected word. Today I’m going to share tips for choosing your word and ways in which you can set aims with regard to different aspects of your life. I’ll share my word of the year and the bullet journal spreads where I explore the term in depth.
Choosing your word
Personally, my ideal word, ‘create’ popped into my head straight away and I was brimming with ideas to bring into fruition. However, if you’re in need of some inspiration, you may want to look at lists and select words which seem appealing. A good way of doing this is to pop on Pinterest and search ‘Word of the Year’. It’s important not to rush the process as there are likely to be a number of words which resonate and feel like they might be the one. When I need help deciding, I create a list of words which have potential and then take time to consider each one before making my choice.
After choosing my word, I used letter stamps and one of my new embossing powders (which I got from my lovely friend Bev) to create shiny letters which I then cut out individually. I also used smaller letter stamps to create a ‘Word of the year’ title. These are going to be used in a dedicated bullet journal spread where I explore what the word means and my intentions for living by it. This will create a record which I can refer back to regularly. I’ve already shared my vision board for the first quarter of the year and this shows some of the ways I’m focusing on being creative too.
Look how many times I used my chosen word in the above paragraphs and you’ll see why I selected it!
Considering different meanings of your word
Emma recommended a website called WordHippo which has a ‘thesaurus and word tools for your creative needs’. I found it really useful for considering different meanings for my word and synonyms too. I copied down the particularly relevant definitions/contexts and also made a note of similar words to use in my BuJo spreads. I was amazed by how much information I took from the site.
Create
To bring into existence
To design with a new shape or form
To be creative or imaginative
To start or establish
To cause or bring about through action
To take the first step into something
I created a list of synonyms and used Word It Out to make a word cloud:
I love creating word clouds and I like to print them and stick them in my bullet journal.
Setting some intentions relating to your chosen word
To help you set intentions you can refer to the segments of The Wheel Of Life or The Wheel Of Wellness as your categories or create your own based on the areas of your life that you feel need most work. I decided to combine ideas from both wheels and create a few of my own titles. The following should help you with setting up yours based on your chosen word. You might also find information from WordHippo useful too.
Health and fitness
Continue to eat a balanced diet, keep up with getting plenty of active minutes each day and maintain a good sleep routine so that I have plenty of energy for creative persuits.
Practice self care to maintain good mental health e.g. engage in mindful activities and find ways to relax each evening and on weekends.
Financial
Set aside some money each month for creative projects.
Try to use the craft materials I already have rather than buying new things.
Continue to make myself available for PCPI work so I have income to use for creative resources.
Family and friends
Meet regularly with Bev so we can share the results of our creative endeavours, celebrate our achievements, offer praise, encouragement and ideas.
Contribution / giving
Post regularly on my blog sharing motivational and inspirational content related to my bullet journal, living your best life and being productive
Continue to consider how I’m making a difference to the students I work with – find ways to record experiences in my journal
Physical environment
Make tidying and organising my craft room a priority so I know where materials and tools are and have room to work on creative activities.
Use my garden journal to identify tasks for the different months, record new plants and include photos to document changes over time.
Social connection
Create opportunities to connect with others through shared passions e.g. animal welfare, nature, crafting, blogging, fitness, bullet journalling
Be open to all types of PCPI work and consider how my roles are helping others in their chosen profession
Passion
Continue to choose a highlight for my day so that I have dedicated time each week to focus on journalling, blogging and particular creative projects I’m currently working on.
Make time to regularly think about my progress towards goals and how I am living my life in a way that reflects my word of the year and my personal values.
Emotional
Create balance between the different aspects of my life and regularly check in with how I’m feeling.
Remember that my energy levels are lower at certain times of year and ensure that I don’t take on too much to retain emotional wellness.
Assess how I’m coping with changes and any challenges.
Marriage
Find opportunities for new experiences with my husband. Harness the power of firsts to create happy memories together.
Find a different vegetarian/vegan recipe each week and enjoy the experience of creating dishes together in the kitchen.
Final words…
I hope that today’s blog post has been helpful and encouraged you to take steps to create a life you love. If you prefer to work with images more than words, you could even create a vision board of pictures which represent how you would like to instill your word of the year. Let me know in the comments if you’ve chosen a word for 2023 and what it is.
I’ve created quite a few vision boards over the last few years and some of them have worked better than others. Often, I find I have manifested some of the things I’ve visualised for myself, whilst other dreams have been forgotten or have not totally come into fruition. Before I create a new board in my bullet journal, I always reflect on the previous one, thinking about which of my desires and goals have been met, which I’ve made progress towards and which either didn’t come true or are no longer in line with what I want for my life. Today, I thought I’d share some of my best tips for creating a vision board and ways in which you can use yours as an effective tool for manifestation.
What is a vision board?
In brief, a vision board is a visual representation of goals you want to work towards to create your ideal life. This can include inspiring images, text which states what you desire for yourself and also messages to yourself such as affirmations and motivational phrases and words. Vision boards can be created in a range of different formats and some of these are discussed a little later.
What do we mean by manifestation?
Put simply, manifestation is the act of materialising or bringing into fruition you deepest wishes, desires and dreams, so they become your true reality. So, for example, you might wish to be a more organised person and this could be shown in your home and work systems, the way you manage your time, the plans you put in place, your goals and priorities, your decision making skills, your self awareness and ability to evaluate your situation etc. There are a number of ways of manifesting the above and creating a vision board can be a really geat tool if you use it properly and effectively.
Where to begin
Before you even start creating your vision board, you need to get clear on what you want to prioritise for yourself right now and in the future. A good way to do this is to schedule some time to quietly think about and evaluate your current life with a view to considering plans to work towards a few goals and small changes that will help you on your way towards your dream life. The following journalling prompts and questions which I’ve collected from a range of sources and created myself will encourage this. You don’t need to answer them all, but they should help you orientate your thinking and ease you into contemplation, evaluation and reflection mode. I recommended writing down some or all of your responses (preferably on paper rather than using a tech device) as part of the process because this enables you to slow down and carefully consider things.
What did I do last year that made me happy? Why did these things make me feel this way?
In which ways was I successful in 2022? Which goals did I meet? How did I effectively deal with problems which came my way?
What was my greatest accomplishment of the year? How has thinking about this helped with my self worth and feelings of purposefulness?
What challenges did I face last year? What did I learn as a result?
What kind of self care activities did I regularly engage in? (if any) Which of these would I like to continue with or do more of? Which new self care activities might I like to try in 2023?
What did I spend too much time and energy on in 2022? As a result, what would I like to do differently in 2023? How might I go about this? Do I need to learn something new or create some sort of plan of action?
What is a new skill I learnt last year? Which skill / skills would I like to learn or develop in 2023?
Name 5 of your core values e.g. positivity, helping others, social connection, looking after the environment, growth, adventure etc. Am I living in alignment with these? What changes would I like to make in relation to my values and beliefs?
Do I feel in control of my life right now or do I feel like others are controlling it for me? Are there any changes I wish to make as a result of my answer?
When do I feel most fulfilled? Why?
What do I want to leave behind in 2022? This could be anything – an attitude, a toxic relationship, poor self image, negative thinking, lack of self compassion, saying ‘yes’ when you really want to say no, being overworked and underpaid etc
What do I want to take forward into 2023? (What do I want to continue doing? How do I want to continue being? Which goals do I want to continue to work towards? etc)
What new practices / attitudes / ways of being / skills etc do I want for myself for 2023? How might I implement these? (e.g. do some self development reading, work with a therapist, change up my routines, attend a class or do some distance learning, place more emphasis / importance on something etc)
What limiting beliefs am I holding on to? Why? How can I work on changing my beliefs about myself / others / the world? (This might be something that you need help and support with, in which case, seeking out therapist or life coach can be really helpful)
What does success look and feel like to you? Why?
If you change one thing about your working life to make it better, what would it be? What impact do you feel this would have?
How do you respond to criticism? Do you feel this is helpful / unhelpful or could be improved in some way?
What qualities do you admire in other people?
Is there a skill you have always wanted to master? What could you do to make a start with this?
What bad habits would you like to break?
What new habits would you most like to instill?
What would you like to be doing in 5 years time? Why?
Who could support you in working towards the different goals you are considering?
Another activity which you might like to try is filling in a ‘wheel of life’ or ‘life balance wheel’ to assess how balanced the different aspects of your life are. There are lots of resources online for this, including blanks which you can print off. Commonly used categories are:
Career / business
Health/fitness
Spirituality
Fun & recreation
Finances
Giving / contribution
Personal growth and development
Significant other / marriage / romance
Physical environment (home/office)
Family & friends
The category names can be tweaked to make them personal to you, so, for example, I would have marriage as a category, would choose business rather than career and have physical environment labelled with home / workspace. The idea is that you evaluate the aspects and give yourself a score out of 10 for each. This is mine from 2018 and it’s amazing to see how things have changed for me since then.
My wheel from the end of 2018 which I found in an old Bullet Journal
My new Wheel of Life!
When you’ve finished your wheel of life, you should see some categories that might benefit from a little bit (or a lot!) of work in order to level them up. For example, in mine, upgrading of the physical environment part of my life is my priority and I’m going to start with the part of my home that I spend most time in.
Personally, I prefer to work on tweaking things for the better rather than having grand ideas which are miles away from my current life. So, for example, if one of my current desires for myself was to have a healthy body and mind, I would think about things I could put in place to work towards this with small and achievable being the key words such as exercising for 30 minutes each day, making sure I eat at least 5 fruit and vegetables, having a balanced plate for my meals and doing at least half an hour of mindful activity each afternoon or evening or scheduling in other regular self care activities. This makes more sense than choosing what for me would be unreasonable goals such as losing loads of weight (unmeasurable), being a size 8 (not going to happen anywhere in the near future if ever,), eating a diet with no foodie treats (unmanageable) and spending two hours in the gym every day of the week (too high expectations).
One little word
Another idea you could try is to use a word to orientate you for the year / month / quarter. This was a tradition coined by Ali Edwards and is described on her website as ‘a word to focus on, to live with, to investigate, to write about, to craft with, and to reflect upon as I go about my daily life’. There are literally hundreds of words you could choose and if you want some inspiration, you’re welcome to check out my Pinterest board.
Vision board format
There are lots of different ways of making a vision board and some may be more appealing to you than others, so start asking yourself a few questions about what would work best for you and would be highly visible each day. Ideas include:
A vision board Pinterest board on your computer
A large A3 / A2 wall display which can easily be seen in a room of your choice
A collection of pictures and words added to a blank page in Canva and then used as your desktop on your personal/work laptop
Pictures and words surrounding the mirror where you do your hair/make up each day
An A4 sheet stuck onto your fridge with a magnet
A double page spread in your notebook or bullet journal
Whatever style you choose, it definitely needs to be one that you’re going to look at on a daily basis. It’s no good creating a vision board in a beautiful notebook and then placing it on a shelf to collect dust – that’s not going to help you manifest anything!
Collect your words and pictures
When you’ve become clear about what you want for yourself right now and have decided on an appropriate format, you can start to collect images and words which reflect this. There are a few different ways you can do this – you could get together some wellbeing related magazines, flick through them and cut out words and images which resonate or you could use Google or Pinterest and search for words and images related to your core values and ways of living you want to move towards. So, for example, if you want to increase the time you spend outdoors in nature, you might search for ‘woodland’, ‘outdoors’, ‘countryside’ or ‘walks in nature’ and then collect images that are the most visually appealing to you. I find it’s best to choose one image and a few words to represent each of your visions. You could even add an affirmation for each such as ‘I am a tidy and well-organised person’, I always take time to look after myself’, ‘I can do anything I put my mind to’, I dream. I believe, I receive. Personally, I like to type out words and phrases on my laptop, but an alternative method is to use letters and phrases from magazines in a kind of ransom note style!
Whilst collecting your words and pictures, try to avoid picking too many things to work on as this is the fastest route to overwhelm and lack of clarity. For my last vision board, I chose just five things to work on and a few mindsets which will help me progress. I selected two motivational images for ‘tidy and organised’ as this is my number one priority and what I want to spend the most time on. As you can see from my vision board at the start of today’s post, I print my photos on glossy photo paper (using my Canon Selphy) and try to choose images which really pop and little bits of décor here and there to try to make my board attractive to look at. If you love the way your vision board turned out, you’re much more likely to want to look at it every day and it’s more likely to inspire you to take action to reach your goals.
A few hints and tips to ensure your vision board works
For a vision board to be classed as working, it needs to be helping to motivated you to work towards your goals and to provide inspiration to keep you heading in the right direction. As I said earlier, I’ve had mixed success with mine through the years and have definitely learnt what helps and what hinders me in making progress. Here’s some tips and tricks which will hopefully help you manifest effectively:
Focus on one thing at a time. Take a look at your vision board and decide which item you are most drawn to right now. This could be something you feel would be easy to implement as a great way to get you started or it could be something which you believe would have most impact. For example, if I had a tidy and well organised craft room, it would certainly make it easier to do my current creative craft project and find and make a start on one of my sewing kits. You can still do things which contribute towards achieving your other goals but try to make one element your priority for the next few weeks or month.
Devote time (at least 5 minutes every day) to look at and think about your vision board. You could also try closing your eyes to visualise what you want for yourself and how you would feel / act / think if a particular vision became your reality. Research shows that visualisation is a powerful tool for manifestation.
Ensure that any goals you set as a result of your vision for the next month / quarter / year are SMART. Make them:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely
Use the acronym to help you flesh out each of your goals and identify some steps to success. This might take a while – another reason why it’s best to work on one aspect of your vision board at a time.
To help you to instill new habits and or break old ones, try reading up on habit formation. I’m currently reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits and making notes on what I’ve learnt but there are plenty of online resources available too.
Schedule in time to reflect on what’s working, what’s not and your progress each week. If things aren’t working, consider why not and then think of new things you could try. How could you increase your progress? Might you need to create smaller steps and celebrate the tiny achievements to spur you on? Will scheduling in blocks of time each day to work towards your current focus help?
Try creating a ‘highlight‘ each day which will lead you towards your goal. This is a method discussed in the book Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky and involves choosing a single activity to prioritise and protect in your daily calendar. When you are engaging in activity for your daily highlight, try to rid your space of distractions so you can really focus on the task at hand.
Don’t be afraid to make updates as you go. You can add things, remove things, tweak things or even start again from scratch if necessary. It’s your vision board and if you decide that one of your images just isn’t inspiring you or that a motivational quote someone shared on Instagram is perfect for your needs – make the necessary changes and hopefully reap the rewards!
When motivation does dwindle, go back and look at your journalling that you did at the beginning of the progress and re-read the answers you wrote to particularly pertinent questions. This should provide you with your ‘reasons why’ and help you to get back on track.
Final words…
I hope that today’s blog post has encouraged you to have a go at creating a vision board for yourself which will help you work towards your goals and desires and ultimately work on designing a life which matches your core values and helps you manifest the aspirations you have for yourself. Wishing you lots of success with meeting your goals for 2023.
Happy New Year to all of my readers! Wishing you a fantastic 2023. I’m a bit late sharing my bullet journal pages this time as I only just got them finished. I’ve done a snowflakes theme before, but last time, I did a monochrome version with just my Pigma micron pens. I ordered some new brush and fine nib pens to arrive just after Christmas and there are lots of lovely blues in the set of 24, so I thought I’d try out the fine tips on my January spreads. I hope you like them and as always, if you’ve shared your pages for this month, feel free to link them in the comments.
Cover page
This month’s cover page is heavily influenced by a design from @createmore.se on Instagram. I’ve changed it up slightly by adding sparkles, dots and small circles but the composition is mainly the same. I used my circle drawing tool and, as I messed up the lettering in my notebook, I cut a page from the back using my X-Acto knife, trimmed it down, created the wreath and then stuck it in after I’d finished. I decided to do a rough freehand border around it to make it stand out. My new pens are from the Ohuhu brand and I ordered the mid tone range which has some lovely pastel colours.
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Monthly Calendar
I’m really pleased with how this one turned out. It’s my usual grid layout with different snowflake designs filling the space. It took me a while but it was a nice bit of mindful drawing in the evening of the first of January,
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Finances
Again, this spread is self explanatory. By the end of last month, my expenses table was completely full – in fact I ran out of space! Hopefully, this month will be a lot lighter on the spending front!
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
TV series watched
I don’t do one of these each month but my last one ran up until the end of December so I’ve just set up a new one. I like to record all of the different series we watch and the particular genres we enjoy. It’s nice to see all of the things we’ve watched and is a good reminder of what we’ve seen.
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Veganuary Week 1 Meal Planning
My husband and I are doing Veganuary again this year which means we’re eating vegan for the whole of January. It gets easier every year but we still need to do a meal plan each week so that we know what we’re having for lunch and dinner each day. I also find the meal planning pages from previous years really useful. Obviously, this page could be useful whatever your diet but we don’t tend to spend long thinking of meal ideas the rest of the year.
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Weekly Plan
This is my first weekly of the month. I used the same snowflake design for each day because coming up with different designs is what took a lot of time for the cover and calendar. I messed up on the spacing for this spread so the bottom columns are one dot space shorter than the ones at the top but it doesn’t bother me too much as I tend to write less at the weekends anyway.
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative
Final words…
That’s all of the spreads I’ve drawn up so far. I have my running task list to set up this morning which will go on the page after my weekly plan and I will of course be doing more meal planning spreads and weekly plans over the weeks. I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my spreads for this month. We have no snow here at the moment but it is certainly cold enough to get some white stuff soon.
Last month, I decided really early on that I wanted to do a Christmas trees theme for December. I was debating doing a watercolour scene featuring real trees and snow for the front cover but knew this would be quite time consuming as I would have to find tutorial to help me and then I would have to paint all of the other trees throughout the month for a cohesive look. However, in the last few days of November, I took to YouTube, searching the videos for inspiration and found this fairly easy but pretty set up from Claire Marie Bee which I was excited to recreate and make my own. I’ve copied quite a few of her ideas and, although it took quite a while to sketch out the tree pattern it was simple enough to do and I love the result.
Front cover
I started the process of creating the front cover by sketching the outlines of the trees in a diagonal pattern. I then turned to the back of my bujo and spent some time practising different designs. The inspiration for the trees was taking from Claire’s video and also from images I found by typing in ‘tree doodles’ into Google. I used just two colours of Tombow ABT for the colouring – dark olive 158 and asparagus 192 and a red Pentel sign brush pen for the sparkles. The page was then outlined using a 0.,1 micron. I also used Claire’s idea of writing the word December on vellum and this meant I could practise a few times and pick the best one!
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative Blog
The monthly calendar
This is my usual 6×6 box calendar with trees dotted about in the background. I didn’t create a pattern with these two pages – I just chose some designs and placed them where I felt they would look good. Again, I wrote December on vellum, this time using a Tombow brush pen in poppy red 856. The Pentel pen and the red Tombow are very similar in colour and I don’t mind that they’re not a perfect match.
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative Blog
Finances
These pages are the same layout as I’ve been using for a while now. Again, I added a title using the Pentel sign brush pen. The words income and expenses are printed on green paper and stuck on because I messed up the writing on them first time. I wish the words were central on the page, but I guess I’ll just have to put up with it!
Photo credit: Laura Jones for Keeping It Creative Blog
Final words…
I hope you’ve enjoyed looking at my spreads for December. If you like finding time to do something creative each week, I really recommend having a go at doing some tree doodles. My sketches are 2cms wide by 3cms tall, but you can make them any size you want. Sitting down and quietly drawing is a wonderfully mindful activity and a great way to destress during the very busy month of December.
Winter is a difficult time for birds due to the shortage of food sources, long and cold nights and shorter days. By nightfall, they need to have eaten enough to give them energy to keep warm and survive until morning when the process of searching for food starts all over again. Providing food sources in your garden is a great way to help nature and feel as though you are making a difference.
Photo credit: Amee Fairbank Brown for Unsplash
I like to think that our garden is a wildlife friendly as possible and I’m always in search of new ideas to keep visitors happy and well fed. I know that many of my readers are nature and wildlife lovers too, so this week, I thought I’d explain how feeding and observing birds in your garden helps to boost your mental health and also share my top tips for looking after birds in wintertime.
Whether you sit outside all wrapped up with a warm drink or you observe through the window, watching the birds feeding and exploring your garden can have a huge impact on your mental health and wellbeing. Here’s some benefits that we can all enjoy:
Watching the birds is a mindful and meditative activity which makes you feel calm and relaxed. Whether indoors or outside, you are required to sit very still and quiet, away from distractions such as your mobile phone (and all of the must-read notifications which constantly pop up!). If you can, and the weather allows, I recommend wrapping up in your biggest coat with hat, gloves and chunky scarf (plus optional coffee, milky tea or hot chocolate), so you can sit in your garden. This way, you can be totally immersed in nature and use more of your senses, so, as well as observing what’s going on, you can also listen to the various sounds of the birds and other noises in your immediate environment or further away. During this time, you may also become aware of different sensations such as a gentle breeze on your face, the chill of your cold ears, the warmth of your mug seeping through your gloves or the supportiveness of your choice of seat. And, because you are involved in all of this sensory exploration, you’re not thinking about your never-ending to-do list and all of the other stresses of the modern world.
Getting outdoors in the wintertime ensures you get some much-needed fresh air and a dose of vitamin D from a natural source. Fresh air can improve your wellbeing in lots of ways including clearing your airways and lungs, strengthening your immune system, improving your digestion and giving you more energy (which also helps to sharpen your mind). Vitamin D is essential for boosting your brain and immune system and strengthening your bones. Obviously, the amount of sunlight changes from day-to-day, but personally, I think getting out in nature provides a mood boost even on the dullest of days.
Bird feeding and watching can give you a real sense of achievement. From learning to identify the birds you spot and beginning to recognise their various calls and songs, to attracting different species to your garden or yard as you increase your feeding options and even developing the skills to use binoculars or take photographs using a DSLR camera. There’s so many opportunities and I guarantee it’ll boost your self-esteem too.
Something else which will make you feel good about yourself is knowing that you’re doing your bit for wildlife conservation in your local area. Creating a haven for birds in your garden and generally making it a wildlife friendly zone is a great way to help on an individual basis.
Above all, bird watching can be absolutely fascinating and great fun. When you stop what you’re doing and really look at the birds, it’s so interesting to see their comings and goings and how they behave. You might first see a little dunnock flicking its tail as it shuffles along the ground, hoovering up crumbs fallen from the feeders. A short time later, you might spot a visiting blue tit carefully extract one single seed and then take it back to the safety of their chosen branch to enjoy in peace and comfort. Watching a solitary blackbird as it traverses your lawn will show you how it tilts it head to listen carefully for worms underground and then uses its sharp beak to extract its prize from the earth. You might also see how it defends its territory by chasing away other small birds from its garden of choice. Whichever birds your garden attracts, I can almost guarantee they’ll provide good entertainment and bring you feelings of joy!
And if you don’t have a garden, watching and feeding birds in your local park is also great too – just be careful about the kind of food you provide, for example pre-mixed bird seed is a good source of nutrients for garden/woodland birds, whereas white bread isn’t a particularly health option for them. If you combine your bird spotting with a nice brisk walk you can really maximise the health benefits of your time outdoors!
Top tips for bird feeding and watching
Get a basic field guide
Whether you’re new to bird watching or have a little experience, a basic field guide for garden birds is a great resource. This will provide pictures of common and slightly more obscure garden visitors as well as information about what makes each of them unique. This might include size, body shape, plumage colours and patterns, tail shape, length and patterning, and other defining characteristics. Many of them will also discuss geographic range, migratory patterns of specific birds, breeding patterns and behaviours to look out for.
Be patient – birds are careful and cautious customers
When you first start to create a haven for birds, you’ll need to be very patient. Birds have evolved to be incredibly careful as it maximises their chance of survival. A few years ago we replaced our bird bath as the current one which was coated metal got a hole in it (we thought that over enthusiastic birds were flicking most of the water out each day!). This time we’d chosen a weighty ceramic version in a shiny mid grey which we excitedly placed in the garden in the same spot as the previous one. However, despite the fact that my husband and I thought the new bath looked smart and attractive, it was several weeks before any of our feather friends showed even a slight interest in it and at least a month before they would actually linger and have a wash in it!
Keep an observational journal
Anyone who knows me or regularly reads my blog will know I love journalling and memory keeping. I like to make my own traveler’s notebook inserts and use them to record anything and everything. However, I’ve recently picked out a garden journal for my husband to get me for Christmas and I thought it would be a nice idea to record my garden bird spots in it, particularly any unusual observations. For example, one snowy January, I saw a group of redwings perching in the ivy on our bottom fence and a few weeks later, my husband spotted a nocturnal bird poking its long beak into the snow in search of food. It turned out it to be a woodcock – our first sighting, and so far, our last! Your journal could simply be a place to record the name of the bird and when you saw it, but you could also get creative adding photographs, sketches or even watercolour paintings.
Think about meal provision for all – cater for picky eaters and those who aren’t as fussed
Some birds, such ss goldcrests, are quite picky eaters, and feed mainly on small insects and spiders. Others, such as blackbirds will include a large range of foods in their diet such as worms, spiders, berries, dried fruits, sunflower hearts, oatmeal and suet pellets. I’ve even seen the ones who visit out garden grabbing the odd water louse from our wildlife pond! If you look at different bird mixes available, they usually suggest which individuals they’re designed to attract. Over time, you could add different feeders – we have seed feeders, fat balls, peanuts (inside a mesh feeder to prevent whole nuts from being extracted) and a wooden table for birds who prefer open feeding and a place for kitchen scraps and fruit.
Go heavy on fatty foods
Talking of different types of food, birds need plenty of high fat stuff during cold winter weather so that they are able to maintain their fat reserves to keep them warm during frosty nights. This can include pre-made fat balls, suet cakes and bars or you can make your own – check out these instructions on the RSPB website. Warning: fat from cooking is bad for birds because the consistency of it makes it prone to smearing on feathers which can destroy waterproofing and insulating qualities.
Supplement with kitchen scraps
Feeding garder birds doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby. Many kitchen scraps that get thrown away can provide a suitable meal. We tend to stick with seed mixes, peanuts and fat balls but this information from the RSPB has given my husband and I food for thought!
Adjust to the demand
When you first start feeding the birds, you may only have a small number of customers visiting your garden or you may find that limited species choose to come. Always adjust the quantity of food to the demand. Also, try to put the provisions out at the same time each day so that the visitors can learn your feeding routine.
Maintain good hygiene
It’s really important to regularly clean your bird feeders, drinking containers and bird tables to keep them disease free. If you don’t maintain good hygiene standards you may be doing the visiting birds more harm than good. Check out this online resource from the RSPB which has lots of tips on keeping your birds healthy.
Provide water as well as food
Water is vital to a bird’s survival so you should make sure you provide drinking and bathing facilities for your feathered friends. This could be via a purpose-built bird bath, a water tray, shallow pot or a hanging water dispenser. For bathing, birds only need a small depth of water as the purpose it to get their feathers wet rather than drenching themselves. During the depths of winter, when it gets super cold, you might need to check on the receptacles to see if they are frozen and then gently defrost them. Be sure not to use really hot water or you might crack the container.
Consider planting for birds
Although late Autumn and the depths of winter aren’t usual time for planting, if you want to attract birds to your garden across the seasons and for years to come, it’s worth thinking about the plants you choose. Native wildflowers, sunflowers, asters, black eyed susans, echinacea (or anything else which has tasty seeds inside) dense bushes and those which produce fruit (e.g. ceanothus, privet and blackberry) shrubs with berries (e.g. cotoneaster) and trees such as birch or cherry. We haven’t got room for any trees in our garden but there are a few hanging over our plot which get plenty of visitors – I’m sure some of them sit in them watching and waiting for us to add fresh supplies.
Once your plants become established, you should find that even if they get attacked by garden pests such as greenfly or blackfly, the birds should help to keep them at bay for you. For example, we have a rose bush and every year the underside of the leaves gets covered. However, we never use pesticide on it (or indeed any of our garden plants) because a) it’s bad for ecology and biodiversity and b) sparrows and blue tits are regularly seen picking the bugs off. Also, by eliminating green and black fly (AKA aphids), you’re depriving ladybirds of their favourite meal too!
Invest in a wildlife pond
We only have a small garden but, about four years ago we decided to get a mini pond for wildlife. We have at least one resident frog in there but it’s also popular with blackbirds too – they love bathing in there and drinking the water (there are lots of water hoglouse in there and we think they pick them out of the water and gobble them up too!). Our night-time visiting hedgehogs also love to wash down the biscuits we put out for them (that is if a visiting mouse hasn’t stolen them before they arrive!).
Final words…
When I used to volunteer for the RSPB and worked with schools exploring nature, the teacher’s used to often ask me when it was important to feed the birds. My advice was that food can become scarce at any time of year, depending on the weather conditions, so it’s best to put something out all year but then ramp up the provisions to include a wider variety of options during the wintertime.
I hope today’s post has encouraged you to give bird watching and feeding a go this wintertime. If it has, let me know how you get on. One final idea is to take a few photos of your feeding provision each year so you can see how your garden develops over time. My husband and I love looking at images taken over the years – even if they’re just quick snaps of different spaces. All too often, we’ve forgotten how tiny some of our plants were when we first set them and how big they’ve grown!
Keeping it creative 