SPARE A THOUGHT FOR BLACKBIRDS AS THEY STRUGGLE TO FIND WORMS DURING DRY SPELL

                                                                               

This garden blackbird  could murder an earthworm - if only there were one to be found

IT is  not just farmers and gardeners who are praying for rain.

North East Lincolnshire's blackbirds  are having an increasingly hard (literally) time of it during the  dry spell.

Their favourite food - especially at a time when they are feeding hungry nestlings - is earthworms.

But garden lawns and other foraging habitats are currently so rock-solid that blackies are unable to peck through the surface. 

Even if their bills could break through, worms themselves are retreating deeper into the ground where conditions are sufficiently moist  to allow them to make their tunnels.

The message is clear. If you have any mealworms or meat-based scraps, don't hesitate to sprinkle them on the grass for the blackbirds.

                                                         

Singing for his supper? No, actually he's proclaiming his territory, but his normally loud song reduces to a low-key warble when his energy is depleted by hunger

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