This week it’s Green Week on Teachers TV and they have some inspiring programmes broadcasting on the channel and online this week. Top picks for this week include: Inspirations - Going Green, which shows two schools finding their own ways to help the environment, and Inspirations - Lowestoft Energy Challenge, where schools and colleges investigate energy efficiency and the importance of energy saving activities in day-to-day life.

To coincide with National Nestbox Week, the RSPB Shop is offering 10% off ALL nestboxes until 21st February. This includes webcam nestboxes.

So click here to see what’s on offer.

While you’re waiting for your nestbox to arrive, you might like to learn more about the nesting timetable. This information is from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). If you do put up a nestbox this year, or if you already have one, try their Nestbox Challenge and help to provide important information on birds’ nesting patterns.

Nesting timetable

* Feb-March: Pairs will be busy looking for a suitable nesting site, so expect to see them flying in and out of your box.

* April: Time for a bit of DIY - Blue Tits can produce a full nest from moss and feathers in less than a week!

* Late April/early May: Look out for the first eggs – a single female can lay up to 16, but never more than one a day.

* Late May: A busy time for parents as the hungry chicks start begging for food.

* June: Time for the chicks to fledge – Blue Tits very seldom have second broods, but other species might so keep watching those boxes.

The height of the box is dependent on the species. Blue tit and Great tit boxes should be sited between 2m and 5m in height. House sparrows between 3m to the eves of the building. Robins and wrens should be no more than 2m and within vegetation.

If you are siting your nestbox within the school grounds or anywhere that children could access the box it should be sited at least 3m in height.

A useful way to plan where to site your nestbox is to photograph the building with a 1 metre rule standing against the wall. Then in your favourite graphics program zoom in and carefully copy the image of the rule and paste copies of it up the image of the wall to measure it. This allows you to easily measure the wall before you get the ladders out.

The hole size of your nestbox is important and will determine which species is likely to use your box.

25mm hole for blue tits, coal tits and marsh tits
28mm hole for tree sparrows and great tits
32mm hole for nuthatch & pied flycatcher
38mm hole for redstarts
Open-fronted for robins

The best time to put up a nest box is at the end of January or the beginning of Februrary. Traditionally, birds start looking for nest sites around Valentines day - it’s a nice thought but it is a good rough guide. It’s never a bad time to put one up though because birds will often use a box to roost in over winter and may return to use the same box in the spring. Some birds may use a box put up later for a second brood.

For additional interest, consider installing a nestcam. These are basically nestboxes with built in webcams. They can be connected to a TV or computer (via a suitable video card or video to USB converter) an will allow you to watch the nest on screen without disturbing the birds. They are available in cheaper black and white versions or colour and either with or without the option of infrared for night vision. Versions without the infrared option tend to have better colour images an not everyone needs to view the nest at night.

Nest Boxes

Buy an RSPB nest box and you know you’re buying quality. Made from durable FSC approved timber and treated with non-toxic preservatives, they are a great way to help garden birds find a safe nesting or roosting site.

Apex nest box, pent roof easy clean nest box, robin nest box, wren nest box, swallow nest box, house martin nest box, roosting pocket, wool dispenser, nest box hole plates.

Now the RSPB has launched its Out and About package aimed at helping schools to organise effective and safe outside sessions with quality service providers.

The service includes a quality badge for service providers. This includes their own ‘Living Classrooms’, a field teaching scheme.

The badge will help schools and local authorities identify quality and safe service providers and the RSPB says it is well underway in ensuring that all of its own Living Classrooms facilities receive the badge.

Ofsted has recently reported that good quality outside the classroom learning sessions raised standards of learnng and improved children’s social and emotional development.

For more information visit the Learning Outside the Classroom website:

www.lotc.org.uk

and the RSPB’s school visits website:

www.rspb.org.uk/school_visits

Classrooms will be turned into bird hides, binoculars will be fixed to eyes and children will be staring out of windows. Why? To take part in the world’s biggest bird survey, the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch.

Running from 19-30 January 2009, the survey encourages children and their teachers to look for and count the birds that share their school environment.

Last year, almost 50,000 children and teachers from 1,500 schools took part, revealing the starling as the most common visitor to school grounds. Over 64,000 birds were counted from 60 different species, ranging from house sparrows and blue tits to siskins and kestrels.

‘The activity is suitable for children of all ages and it also appeals to teachers because it’s fun, easy and simple to set up’

Laura Osborne, RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch project manager, said: ‘The Big Schools’ Birdwatch provides an opportunity for thousands of children to join in and discover more about the birds visiting their schools. The activity is suitable for children of all ages and it also appeals to teachers because it’s fun, easy and simple to set up.’

A host of curriculum-linked learning flows from the survey. Some schools make the activity the centrepiece of a whole week devoted to learning about wild birds. Other schools hold birdwatch breakfasts and after school wildlife clubs.

All you need to do to take part is watch and count the birds in your school grounds for one hour, then send one set of results back to the RSPB detailing what you saw. All the results are then put together to create an overview of which birds are making the most of school grounds across the UK.

Laura added: ‘Whether you’ve seen several common birds or a few exotic species, it doesn’t matter – all sightings are useful to us! This year, our online results form can be used as a fun data-handling class activity allowing you to build your choice of graphs and charts using your results.’

No birdwatching expertise is necessary for teachers, helpers or children and the RSPB has produced a free schools pack containing everything a teacher will need. The emphasis is on having fun and joining in. The pack includes guidance notes, a full colour bird identification poster, counting chart and survey form.

For further information about Big Schools’ Birdwatch, visit the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/schoolswatch or ring 0300 456 8340 (calls charged at standard rate) for a free teachers’ pack. The hotline number will be operational until 28 January 2009.

This year is the 30th anniversary of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. It takes place on the weekend of 24th to 25th January 2009.

The Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s biggest bird survey, providing us with a vital snapshot of the UK’s birds each winter.

Here are three reasons why you should help the RSPB celebrate their 30th birthday over the weekend of 24-25th January:

Reason 1: It’s fun

And you just never know what you’re going to see! Spend time with friends, family and children put out some food in the garden and enjoy yourself.

Reason 2: It’s easy

Was there ever a better excuse to stay in your armchair and stare out the window, than to say you’re just counting the birds in your garden? In fact, you’re likely to see more birds if you don’t go into the garden and disturb them.

For the last 30 years, the way the RSPB has done the survey has remained exactly the same – encouraging people to just watch the birds in your garden for an hour and record the maximum number of each species you see at one time.

You really don’t need to be an expert to take part. Whether you’re young or old, an ‘expert’ or a beginner, there really is no better place to start than our Big Garden Birdwatch.

Get yourself a cup of tea, something yummy to eat, put your feet up and enjoy watching the feathered visitors to your garden.

Reason 3: It only takes an hour

You can look at this two ways –

1: by giving up one hour you’re making a real difference to the RSPB’s knowledge of garden birds. They’ve learnt so much over the past 30 years about the birds in our gardens – not least how passionate people are about birds and wildlife.

They now have shedloads of data about house sparrows and starlings, blue tits and blackbirds and, well, probably any garden bird you can name.

This info is invaluable to them because there’s absolutely no way they could get so much of it without the help of all of you.

Their scientists can then use these patterns in bird numbers to help prioritise our bird conservation work. They’ve found that house sparrows, starlings and song thrushes really need our help – we’re seeing fewer every year. Because they now know this, they’re looking into what we can all do to help them.

Or 2: treat yourself to an hour watching the birds in your garden. Go on, give yourself a break and enjoy the wildlife around you. You’ll feel refreshed, relaxed and inspired.

So, at some point over 24-25 January put an hour aside for you and the birds.

You’ll be making a big contribution to conservation, we’ll be really grateful and you’ll feel lovely, warm and fluffy (just like some of those birds).

For more information about the Big Garden Birdwatch, to download a counting sheet or for hints and tips on spotting birds, go to the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch website.

If you would like to order some seed to put out to attract birds to your garden, you can buy it online at the RSPB online shop. You can even save 20% on bird food at the moment when you spend £30.

Why not join the RSPB and help birds and wildlife.

On lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal areas the birds will be struggling to survive after enduring seven consecutive days of freezing temperatures.

The group making today’s call include the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and Natural England.

Following a run of mild winters, this is the first time in a decade that this call has been made in England. An appeal in Scotland was issued in 2003.

Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s conservation director, said: ‘During freezing conditions disturbance forces the birds to squander their precious energy reserves by taking flight when they need to spend as much time as possible feeding.

‘Although we haven’t made this appeal since 1997, we hope everyone who uses the countryside will heed our advice, allowing the millions of birds which visit the UK’s coasts and wetlands during the winter to stand a better chance of survival.’

The birds affected include ducks – including wigeon and pintail – and wading birds, such as godwits, dunlin and knot. These birds either nest in the Arctic, or further north or east in Europe. During the winter the birds visit the UK to escape harsher conditions further north.

Andrew Gouldstone, the RSPB’s Area Conservation Manager for the North West,  said: ‘Even at a time when our climate is warming, we can still expect freezing conditions, but less frequently.  Wildfowl and wading birds respond to these icy blasts by moving further south and west. Mild winters have allowed some of these international travellers to cut short their journeys, with more remaining within the eastern half of Britain.

‘As the natural world responds to the freeze, we can expect the UK’s vital coastal wetlands to play a role in helping these hardy birds survive the winter.  If the freeze continues, we can expect the warmer estuaries on our west coast – such as the Dee, Mersey, Ribble, Morecambe Bay and the Solway - to be especially important as birds escape the weather.  These are amongst our most important wildlife sites.  The winter of 2009 is likely to show just how vital they are to the survival of thousands of water birds.

An article in the Telegraph yesterday reported that the sea around Poole in Dorset had frozen.

They also report that birds are flocking to domestic gardens as the frozen conditions make it difficult to find natural food sources. Increasing numbers of birds such as waxwings, reed buntings, yellowhammers, redpolls, grey wagtails, redwings and fieldfares are being spotted alongside the more common garden species on feeding tables across the country.

The RSPCA also urged pet owners to bring their pets indoors after reports of rabbits and guinea pigs freezing to death.

Do you spare a thought for wildlife, especially birds, living outside in these temperatures. Of course they are far better adapted than we are but it hard to imagine where they find food in the bare trees on an icy day.

Putting food out for birds is simple and often life-saving. But water is just as important and few of us provide it.

Birds obtain water from various sources. As well as drinking water directly, they take in water from their food. Insects and berries contain a high proportion of water. During very low temperatures birds will eat snow and peck ice but it takes a lot of energy to melt snow and ice inside the bird. That energy has to be replaced by more food which is in short supply. If you can, put out fresh water at least once a day, if not more. If it’s difficult or impossible because of work or other committments, try to get a neighbour to help. If at all possible try to keep the time you provide water the same each day each day so birds don’t waste energy visiting a number of times.

Photographers are invited to submit their work for the 2009 International Garden Photographer of the Year and be in with a chance to win prizes totallying over £20,000 in cash and equipment as well as having their work displayed in an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

There are seven categories but probably the most relevant and interesting to us is the ‘wildlife in the garden’ category. There is also an award for the Young Garden Photographer of the Year for budding photographers under 16 years old.

The full list of categories also includes: Plant Portraits; Garden Views; People in the Garden; the Edible Garden; Trees and World Botanic Gardens.

Entrants can enter up to four single images in any one category or a themed portfolio of six images into the Portfolio category, however there is a fee to enter. Photographers can enter as many times as they like. All entries are made online. After the closing date at the end of January 2009, the international panel of judges will select the top 100 works for display in an outdoor exhibition at Kew Gardens.

For further information about the competition and exhibition and to enter go to www.igpoty.com

Closing date is 31st January 2009.