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It’s been a busy month for the people of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. They’ve been trying to rescue a rockhopper penguin colony caught in a thick oil slick. Only 260 people live on the island…and almost all of them have been helping out in a desperate attempt to save the thousands of endangered animals. The incredible determination of the locals means even the island’s swimming pool was drained to provide a place to assess whether the penguins were ready to be released yet.
Photo : Kent Kobersteen/Getty

Big Garden Birdwatch 2011 TV ad from The RSPB on Vimeo.

It’s nearly time for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch! The RSPB have been doing this for 30 years and it’s a brilliant way to find out how our feathered friends are getting on. All you need to do is spend an hour this weekend to see what flutters into your garden! Find out more and use their handy identification sheet from their website.

I’ve been reading a lot from people unsure about what to do to help the birds in their garden with the freezing weather. So, here’s some great advice from the RSPB with all the nutritious food birds love! Our blackbirds, sparrows and little robin all love raisins…and the odd bit of bacon rind! It seems ‘fatty’ foods are especially useful at this time of year…which is bad news for our hamsters as it looks like they’ll be sharing that big bag of sunflower seeds!

The RSPB have put up all the results of this January’s Birdwatch. In just one weekend, over 8.5 million birds were counted in people’s gardens. It makes for interesting reading as this winter was particularly harsh and a lot of unexpected birds were found making use of the much-needed food on bird tables.