With this spring being milder than usual you might assume that the high insect levels would be enough to satisfy most wild birds appetites, but the hotter weather also hardens the ground and many wild birds who normally feed of worms such as tits and chaffinches will struggle to find food.
Springtime is also breeding time for wild birds so extra food will always help and can really make a difference to the survival rate of the young, just be mindful that hygiene is important, clean feeders and tables and that certain foods will not last long in the hot weather.
Foods to avoid feeding to wild birds during this time of year include such things as whole peanuts, due to the risks of choking young birds, an exception to this could be through the use of a caged feeder that won’t allow larger chunks of nut through the gaps in the mesh. Other foods to avoid should include bread as this could prove harmful if the older birds feed them to their young.
What can I feed Wild Birds Then?
Some adult wild birds will come and feed from your garden to satisfy their own needs whilst other parents will take the food you have put out back to their young so a plentiful supply of protein rich foods are much needed. Fat products are ideal as these provide the high energy proteins breeding birds require such as fat balls, suet blocks and suet pellets. Fat products also appeal to a wide variety of wild birds so putting these types of foods out in the garden should increase the diversity of wild birds visiting. New production techniques now unable a less messy option in what’s known as Less Mess Suet Blocks, these are ideal as they don’t melt or get sticky in the hotter weather but are still as tasty and appeal to the wild birds.
Live foods such as insects are one of the best sources of protein for wild birds that are breeding, live foods such as mealworms are possibly the most popular live bird food.
Many species go mad for mealworms including robins, blackbirds, sparrows and tits. Mealworms are ideal for feeding in gardens and are made up of over 48% protein and 40% fat and have a high percentage of moisture which is vital for nestlings. Just remember to use special live bird food feeders otherwise your bird food will wriggle away before the birds get chance to eat them.
Don’t like the idea of handling live mealworms but still want to help the wild birds during the springtime then consider using dried mealworms, freeze dried but still containing all the same levels of proteins and fats but much easier to deal with, although during breeding season it would be better to soak in a little water to aid with digestion of nestling birds.
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
First Home DIY Advice
Moving into your first home give you the opportunity to show off your great design skills, this means that unless you’re a lotto winner you will be doing some if not all the diy jobs around your new home.
Learning new DIY skills takes time so it’s worth being realistic when tackling your first few jobs, if you have a parent or friend who’s knowledgeable then consider cooking them a meal one evening while they show you how to change plastic light switches for chrome ones. Plus it gives you chance to show off your culinary skills, beans on toast anyone?
Buyers of brand new homes will have a much easier time with a lot less time being devoted to repairing cracked plaster or stripping old wallpaper. Having nice smooth wall to start with really speeds up the transformation from a house to a home.
What can appear an easy diy job isn’t always the case, take hanging pictures on the walls, simple enough you would think choose the location and hammer a nail in to the wall, job done! and 99 out of 100 times you will be fine, but be aware of hidden pipes and cables within the wall, experience will help but even tradesmen get it wrong sometimes, a wiser person might invest in one of the many low cost electronic detectors available in all the leading diy stores, place one of these against the wall were you intend to put the nail or drill and it will show if something is beneath the plaster surface.
Carpets and flooring are expensive items, our advice is to try and buy the best you can afford. If you fancy cutting corners ( no pun intended ) on cost it’s far better to do a couple of rooms at a time with good quality rather than having the whole house fitted in cheap stuff or worse still buying remnants and fitting them yourself. Many new home builders offer deals that include carpets throughout the whole house, at first glance this probably doesn’t sound that great, it will when you go down your local carpet shop and get some estimates.
If you are still yet to decide on buying your new home or would like to take advantage of a selection of schemes to help in buying your first home or you are looking to move up the property ladder then Larkfleet Homes have several developments in and around Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland. Larkfleet Homes are a company with an enviable reputation for producing high quality sustainable developments using innovative technology and construction methods, delivered to exceed customer expectations.
Learning new DIY skills takes time so it’s worth being realistic when tackling your first few jobs, if you have a parent or friend who’s knowledgeable then consider cooking them a meal one evening while they show you how to change plastic light switches for chrome ones. Plus it gives you chance to show off your culinary skills, beans on toast anyone?
Buyers of brand new homes will have a much easier time with a lot less time being devoted to repairing cracked plaster or stripping old wallpaper. Having nice smooth wall to start with really speeds up the transformation from a house to a home.
What can appear an easy diy job isn’t always the case, take hanging pictures on the walls, simple enough you would think choose the location and hammer a nail in to the wall, job done! and 99 out of 100 times you will be fine, but be aware of hidden pipes and cables within the wall, experience will help but even tradesmen get it wrong sometimes, a wiser person might invest in one of the many low cost electronic detectors available in all the leading diy stores, place one of these against the wall were you intend to put the nail or drill and it will show if something is beneath the plaster surface.
Carpets and flooring are expensive items, our advice is to try and buy the best you can afford. If you fancy cutting corners ( no pun intended ) on cost it’s far better to do a couple of rooms at a time with good quality rather than having the whole house fitted in cheap stuff or worse still buying remnants and fitting them yourself. Many new home builders offer deals that include carpets throughout the whole house, at first glance this probably doesn’t sound that great, it will when you go down your local carpet shop and get some estimates.
If you are still yet to decide on buying your new home or would like to take advantage of a selection of schemes to help in buying your first home or you are looking to move up the property ladder then Larkfleet Homes have several developments in and around Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland. Larkfleet Homes are a company with an enviable reputation for producing high quality sustainable developments using innovative technology and construction methods, delivered to exceed customer expectations.
Thursday, 21 April 2011
First Home Energy Saving Tips
Moving in to your first home is a fantastic feeling, it’s all yours (well let’s forget for a moment about the mortgage) your very own first home.
No doubt you will have loads of ideas and plans to make it unique and reflect your personality and tastes, that’s great can’t wait to get started on the diy?
Before you start slapping red paint on the walls to match your yellow carpet spare a thought for a few energy saving tips, were not trying to sound like your dad here but sometimes they make sense ( though not always!)
Those of you who have bought a brand new first home will always have the upper hand when it comes to lower energy costs, quality built new homes are so well insulated that once they are heated up they retain their heat all day and enable you to either turn the heating off or significantly reduce the thermostat temperature.
Light fittings in your first house will probably be one of the first things you will want to change, not many people like the plastic dangly things that the builders fit, although they are better than taking down something your granny would have had fitted if your first home isn’t a new one.
So before you go out and buy those chrome effect or black down lighters check what bulbs they accept, having six 60 watt bulbs on in your living room at night will cost much more than six x 7.5 watt low energy bulbs over the course of a year and the new LED spot light bulbs can use as little as 1.5 watts each, although the brightness is sometimes less than that of the full power bulbs. After all the savings will pay for plenty of pizza deliveries for all the parties you are planning.
Loft insulation, again new home buyers can forget about this as your loft space will have been well insulated by your builder, if your first home isn’t a new one then the loft is best insulated to a 200mm depth if possible and get this done well before the colder weather sets in and it’s advisable to avoid very warm days. Either call a reputable company in or have a go yourself, insulating your loft isn’t difficult but it’s not a pleasant DIY job as the fibres do irritate the skin, so have a quick measure up and head down the DIY store.
If you are still yet to decide on buying your new home or would like to take advantage of a selection of schemes to help you buy your first home or you are looking to move up the property ladder then Larkfleet Homes who have several developments in and around Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland have a wide range of award winning new homes
No doubt you will have loads of ideas and plans to make it unique and reflect your personality and tastes, that’s great can’t wait to get started on the diy?
Before you start slapping red paint on the walls to match your yellow carpet spare a thought for a few energy saving tips, were not trying to sound like your dad here but sometimes they make sense ( though not always!)
Those of you who have bought a brand new first home will always have the upper hand when it comes to lower energy costs, quality built new homes are so well insulated that once they are heated up they retain their heat all day and enable you to either turn the heating off or significantly reduce the thermostat temperature.
Light fittings in your first house will probably be one of the first things you will want to change, not many people like the plastic dangly things that the builders fit, although they are better than taking down something your granny would have had fitted if your first home isn’t a new one.
So before you go out and buy those chrome effect or black down lighters check what bulbs they accept, having six 60 watt bulbs on in your living room at night will cost much more than six x 7.5 watt low energy bulbs over the course of a year and the new LED spot light bulbs can use as little as 1.5 watts each, although the brightness is sometimes less than that of the full power bulbs. After all the savings will pay for plenty of pizza deliveries for all the parties you are planning.
Loft insulation, again new home buyers can forget about this as your loft space will have been well insulated by your builder, if your first home isn’t a new one then the loft is best insulated to a 200mm depth if possible and get this done well before the colder weather sets in and it’s advisable to avoid very warm days. Either call a reputable company in or have a go yourself, insulating your loft isn’t difficult but it’s not a pleasant DIY job as the fibres do irritate the skin, so have a quick measure up and head down the DIY store.
If you are still yet to decide on buying your new home or would like to take advantage of a selection of schemes to help you buy your first home or you are looking to move up the property ladder then Larkfleet Homes who have several developments in and around Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland have a wide range of award winning new homes
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
How are Plastics Recycled
Ever wondered what happens after your waste plastic bottles and packaging gets collected or you drop it off at your local plastic recycling collection point.
Prior to plastic recycling the plastic products have to be sorted in to there various types, this is due to part of the recycling plastics process involving melting the plastic and not all plastics melt at the same temperature, differences mixing here can lead to a brittle recycled plastic product, think of how oil and water don’t mix well.
Once the waste plastic has been identified and separated the recycling process can begin, recycling plastic is much more involved than say for glass or metals, usually starting with shredding and washing to remove paper labels, adhesives and other impurities, this is followed by melting the clean plastic and extruding in to the form of pellets which then go on to manufacture the next lot of plastic products.
Recycled scrap plastic is more often than not recycled in to something completely different to what it started out as, plastic bottles could easily become your garden furniture, a point worth noting is that it is not always possible to recycle it over and over again and here in the UK we still don’t have recycling facilities for all types of plastics, typically the likes of yoghurt pots and butter containers either go to landfill sites or are shipped to overseas plants for recycling.
Due to the continual growth in dependencies of plastic manufactured products, something like 20 times more than 50 years ago our need to recycle rather than continuing to create from new plastic grows ever more important, often it is all too easy for us to forget the knock on effects such as conserving non-renewable fossil fuels and minimising the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill sites.
All plastic products have a Plastic Identification Codes – or PIC for short imprinted on to them somewhere, this is a plastic recycling symbols, made up of a circulating arrow in a triangle shape with a number between 1 & 7 in the centre. The PIC was implemented by the Society of the Plastic industry in 1988.
Type 1 is polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) - Fizzy Drink Bottles / Oven Ready Meals
Type 2 is high-density polyethylene (HDPE) – Milk and Washing up Bottles
Type 3 is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) = Shampoo, Squash Bottles, Cling Film
Type 4 is low-density polyethylene (LDPE) – Carrier Bags & Bin Liners
Type 5 is polypropylene (PP) – Micro Meals & Margarine Tubs
Type 6 is polystyrene (PS) – Yoghurt Pots, Toys, Electronic Goods
Type 7 is other (usually PC or ABS) – Headlight Lenses, Safety Glasses, Melamine
So next time you put your waste plastic in the bin, see if you can spot the plastic identification code, currently there is no legal requirement for plastic manufacturers to label their products but the majority do so, possibly ahead of future legislation that may come in to force.
Prior to plastic recycling the plastic products have to be sorted in to there various types, this is due to part of the recycling plastics process involving melting the plastic and not all plastics melt at the same temperature, differences mixing here can lead to a brittle recycled plastic product, think of how oil and water don’t mix well.
Once the waste plastic has been identified and separated the recycling process can begin, recycling plastic is much more involved than say for glass or metals, usually starting with shredding and washing to remove paper labels, adhesives and other impurities, this is followed by melting the clean plastic and extruding in to the form of pellets which then go on to manufacture the next lot of plastic products.
Recycled scrap plastic is more often than not recycled in to something completely different to what it started out as, plastic bottles could easily become your garden furniture, a point worth noting is that it is not always possible to recycle it over and over again and here in the UK we still don’t have recycling facilities for all types of plastics, typically the likes of yoghurt pots and butter containers either go to landfill sites or are shipped to overseas plants for recycling.
Due to the continual growth in dependencies of plastic manufactured products, something like 20 times more than 50 years ago our need to recycle rather than continuing to create from new plastic grows ever more important, often it is all too easy for us to forget the knock on effects such as conserving non-renewable fossil fuels and minimising the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill sites.
All plastic products have a Plastic Identification Codes – or PIC for short imprinted on to them somewhere, this is a plastic recycling symbols, made up of a circulating arrow in a triangle shape with a number between 1 & 7 in the centre. The PIC was implemented by the Society of the Plastic industry in 1988.
Type 1 is polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) - Fizzy Drink Bottles / Oven Ready Meals
Type 2 is high-density polyethylene (HDPE) – Milk and Washing up Bottles
Type 3 is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) = Shampoo, Squash Bottles, Cling Film
Type 4 is low-density polyethylene (LDPE) – Carrier Bags & Bin Liners
Type 5 is polypropylene (PP) – Micro Meals & Margarine Tubs
Type 6 is polystyrene (PS) – Yoghurt Pots, Toys, Electronic Goods
Type 7 is other (usually PC or ABS) – Headlight Lenses, Safety Glasses, Melamine
So next time you put your waste plastic in the bin, see if you can spot the plastic identification code, currently there is no legal requirement for plastic manufacturers to label their products but the majority do so, possibly ahead of future legislation that may come in to force.
Choosing Good Removal Company
Moving house as we all know is one of the most stressful events most of us undertake, the thought of packing up all our worldly goods into boxes then putting these boxes onto the back of a van sends a chill down your back. Why not let someone else take the strain, besides you will have enough other things happening on removal day to keep you busy.
Be careful of using one of the many “man and a van” type removal services that have sprung up of recent years, the old saying of you get what you pay for applies to removal services. Ask yourself what happens if something gets damaged, who is liable? The odd job man with a van is unlikely to be insured for breakages.
Always get several free quotes for removals, whilst some may offer a quick online estimate for removals the more professional removal companies will have an experienced estimator visit your house or business premises to assess the location and confirm any special requests that could cause difficulties on the day, examples could be very large heavy items of furniture, garden statues or tropical fish. You may have to consider removing a window to get something out or you on the top floor of a flat and there are parking restrictions in place, all good removal companies can overcome these problems, and deal with any permits that need obtaining. Another point to note is providing your removal company with as much detail regarding access at the new address, better to say whilst at the quotation stage that your new home is on the 20th floor or down a muddy farm track.
So it makes sense then to choose a good removal company , one that will look after your possessions and handle them with the same care as you would. You would be right to think this was a given, well not all removal companies are the same. Luckily there are some industry bodies that regulate the removal industry, here in the UK we have the British Association of Removers or BAR for short. BAR is recognised by the department of trade and has a code of conduct the all members have to adhere to. So a quick check should ensure they are members of the British Association of Removers.
Recommendations are always the best way, to judge how good a removal company are, ask friends and neighbours who they used. Failing that you will have to decide based on the interactions with the removal companies staff that you have, where they professional, courteous and on time when they gave you the estimate.
A final thought to bear in mind is accepting the quotation, always try to plan early and book your removal company in plenty of time, this is especially true at certain times of the year such as a move just before Christmas as all the reputable removal companies will get booked up well in advance.
Be careful of using one of the many “man and a van” type removal services that have sprung up of recent years, the old saying of you get what you pay for applies to removal services. Ask yourself what happens if something gets damaged, who is liable? The odd job man with a van is unlikely to be insured for breakages.
Always get several free quotes for removals, whilst some may offer a quick online estimate for removals the more professional removal companies will have an experienced estimator visit your house or business premises to assess the location and confirm any special requests that could cause difficulties on the day, examples could be very large heavy items of furniture, garden statues or tropical fish. You may have to consider removing a window to get something out or you on the top floor of a flat and there are parking restrictions in place, all good removal companies can overcome these problems, and deal with any permits that need obtaining. Another point to note is providing your removal company with as much detail regarding access at the new address, better to say whilst at the quotation stage that your new home is on the 20th floor or down a muddy farm track.
So it makes sense then to choose a good removal company , one that will look after your possessions and handle them with the same care as you would. You would be right to think this was a given, well not all removal companies are the same. Luckily there are some industry bodies that regulate the removal industry, here in the UK we have the British Association of Removers or BAR for short. BAR is recognised by the department of trade and has a code of conduct the all members have to adhere to. So a quick check should ensure they are members of the British Association of Removers.
Recommendations are always the best way, to judge how good a removal company are, ask friends and neighbours who they used. Failing that you will have to decide based on the interactions with the removal companies staff that you have, where they professional, courteous and on time when they gave you the estimate.
A final thought to bear in mind is accepting the quotation, always try to plan early and book your removal company in plenty of time, this is especially true at certain times of the year such as a move just before Christmas as all the reputable removal companies will get booked up well in advance.
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