Nature-Special Interest. Please share on here if you share this interest.

It sounds a lovely place to be. What lovely places to walk. Yes, an eco system is the best way with plenty of places for wildlife to hide. We had a lame dove in our garden one day. The next day there were only feathers, so I presume it was dinner for a fox.

We have bird feeders in the garden, mostly we get sparrows and starlings and a few jackdaws, but there are a pair of collared doves that come fairly often. In the park where I sometimes walk Fearn there are a couple of robins who know me and come for food and a tree full of sparrows that come and shout at me for food and some blackbirds that I put seed down for in grassy boarders so they can have a good fossick about.

Living on Anglesey I'm a bit spoilt for choice with wildlife, woods with red squirrels, woodpeckers and all sorts of finches and ones I can't name, sea, freshwater and wading birds, including culew, a variety of geese and ducks, oyster catchers and different gulls.

I think one of the best things one can do for wild life, is create a dead hedge, just a stack of woody cuttings, leaves and maybe some straw which will gradually rot down, but will create an ideal hidding place for toads, hedgehogs and insects. I've noticed a real difference in the variety of insect life in my garden since I made it, we've lots of hover flies patrolling various plants, the males are territorial and will come and have a good look at you when you come into their patch, they eat loads of aphids and other garden nasties.

I try and make my garden a big restaurant where there's something for everyone to eat, even me, I think this way of gardening increases wildlife and makes a garden much more of a self sustaining eco system.

That is wonderful that you have natural food. I grow quite a few of my own plants from seed and hoped sunflowers would produce seeds for the birds, but they seem to rot after they flower. I didn't realise birds liked lavender seeds. Thanks for the advice about leaving the seeds.

We are working on a native hedge, hoping to eventually have berries. We also have a pile of branches from the trees in a wooden slatted structure made from old wood that we add to and leaves around a wilder area, which is popular with some of the smaller birds. It's lovely to see them hopping in and out. We don't cut the grass too often either.

That sounds lovely.

Hello Homebird,

I don't put out food out for birds in my garden but I do grow plants which are native to the UK; as they have seeds, berries and buds the wild birds like to eat. 

I also grow a low hedge of lavender near my kitchen window and leave the dry seed heads on the plants until March.  The Goldfinches love visiting those seeds (sometimes up to 12 birds at the same time.  The location of the lavender means I sometimes manage to see the birds eating the seeds as I am cooking or washing up.

I also make sure there is water available in the garden all year round.

I love nature. I enjoy spending time out in the garden in the spring, watching the birds eat from the feeder, and if I'm really lucky I get to see the rabbits out and about. Once or twice I've seen foxes but only briefly. Where we live there's a bridelway that runs behind the house and up in to the woods, so on a really nice day it's fun to go walking up there. Rena likes to carry a journal which she writes in about what animals and plants we see.

I love being surrounded by nature, it's so peaceful and there is a lot of beauty to see out there. I always feel like you see the best of the world in nature.

Squirrels can be quite entertaining. One comes in our garden sometimes and will run up and down a tree as if in a tantrum if he can't find what he wants it seems.

I guess enjoying nature is common as it is relaxing and doesn't demand tiring interaction.

It's lovely having a local park for birdwatching. The tufted ducks reminded me of the lake in the town I grew up in where it was lovely seeing them return each year.

That sounds a lovely park. I enjoy watching the nature series on BBC. I enjoy Spring watch etc. and love learning new facts they tell us about. 

I love when I am gardening and a robin hops around nearby. When we moved a few years ago to our new house and I was sweeping leaves a robin popped in as if to welcome me. There is one we see every year now with a distinctive mark as well as another that sometimes pops in.

I also remember coming out of my shed one day and stopping to watch a group of long tailed *** hopping around the tree nearby.

The local park, quite large with two lakes, is good for birdwatching. Along with the usual native small birds there are herons, which nest each year, tufted duck, goosanders (in winter) and cormorants. A couple of years ago there was even a very lost Carolina wood duck, which was quite spectacular looking. We have terrapins in a nearby canal. They are abandoned pets, as it is too cold for them to successfully breed. Beside the canal is a rare breeds farm, which has Highland cattle.

I also like watching birds, and I often see squirrels when I go for a walk which I love.

I think enjoying nature is very common for autistic people?

Hello, thanks for sharing your special interest. Watching birds splash in bird baths, enjoy their bird food and chirp blissful tunes is a very soothing pastime indeed (and refreshing retreat from the screen). I also enjoy long walks in my local park, where we have lots of trees, winding paths and birds. 

I too have a special interest in nature and animals. I love watching animal documentaries on National Geographic and Blue Planet in my spare time and I am always looking for more great shows to watch. If you happen to know any great shows about birds, I would love to hear about them.

If not, that is fine. I would love to listen to more of your real-life experiences with birds, animals and mother nature