Song Ideas, Tips & Guides

As February is Black History Month, it's an excellent time to celebrate the incredible Black designers who contribute to the design world all year long.

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Hilary Duff has earned the right to be a little particular, and she’s not apologizing for it. Duff may be a busy mom of three (soon to be four—she announced that she was expecting in December), but she still carves out space to curate an atmosphere that works for her, even if that curation happens once the kids are off to school.

The bird species that visit your garden will vary depending on your location, the size of your plot, what type of plants you grow and what supplementary bird food you offer. In some areas of the UK, birds such as tree sparrows and nuthatches might be relatively common in gardens, whereas in other places they are unlikely to be seen. The birds on the list below can be seen in gardens, but none is included in the top 20 species in the last two years of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.

I am very prone to love at first sight. In fact, it happened just last week. I saw a tall southerner “across a crowded room”, as the song says. My heart stood still (as another song says). I was enraptured.

I’ll sing you one, O Green grow the rushes, O What is your one, O? etc

Our largest tit, the great tit has a black head with white cheeks and a green-yellow breast and belly with a black strip running down the centre. In males the strip is a symbol of status and indicates whether or not he will be a good father – the broader the strip, the better the male.

Seeing two cardinals together can be a remarkable sight for nature lovers. With their deep red plumage, these birds carry deep meaning and are believed by many to be a symbol of good news!

Watching birds feeding, displaying and collecting nest material in the garden is the most wonderful way to connect with the natural world. Whether you are listening to chiffchaffs singing while you are weeding the borders in spring or watching redwings feeding in the snow, birds bring life and joy to our gardens throughout the year.

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These charming birds, popular for their striking red breasts and cheerful songs, signal the arrival of spring. However, most people think that they also carry some hidden meanings. So, What Does it Mean When You See a Red Robin? Read below!

These striking birds, known for their brilliant plumage and melodious songs, are more than just a visual treat; they carry rich symbolism and are often considered messengers of hope and joy. Let’s look at What Does It Mean When You See a Cardinal.

When it comes to decorating the walls of your home, we all know how daunting and pricey this kind of project can be. From prints and frames for a sprawling gallery wall to a high-end canvas statement piece, the price (and time) required to find the perfect wall decor often ends up being more (much more) than you bargained for.

 Birds with White Stripes on Wings might not be as common as the other ones in your area, which makes identifying them quite a task, but not anymore! This guide will help you with everything you need!

From gliding swallows to feisty thrushes, the RSPB helps us identify which birds will be making an appearance in your garden now that the summer sun has arrived.

Whilst we huddle with cups of hot chocolate, wrapped in layers of wool, gearing ourselves up to make those first boot tracks in crisp frost, our wintry gardens are already being enjoyed by the birds. From the cunning Treecreeper to the bolshy Robin, the RSPB help us identify who will be paying your garden a visit in the cold season.

Spring is when wildlife reawakens in our countryside, parks and gardens. Despite the cold chill still in the air, signs of spring will be starting to appear and our garden birds will become more recognisable during the breeding season. From the noisy Willow Warbler to the colourful Siskin, the RSPB help us identify what birds will be paying a visit to your garden this spring.

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A little brown bird with a big personality, the chiff chaff is named after its song, which sounds like it’s saying “chiff chaff, chiff chaff”. You can hear this in spring and summer when they’re breeding, the rest of the time they make a contact call that sounds like it’s saying “hweet, hweet”, which I associate with the onset of autumn. Typically a summer migrant, most chiff chaffs spend winter in the Mediterranean and West Africa, before returning to the UK to breed. However, increasingly, more are overwintering here due to the milder winters and the availability of insects to eat.

Nature has a unique knack for mixing beauty and practicality, and Black Birds with Yellow Beaks are a great example of this blend. As we discover these special birds, we’ll learn about their fascinating charm, where they live, and how they interact with their surroundings.

“Every rose has its thorns”, or so the song goes. Except, it’s not true, as we shall see in a minute.

Many gardeners find working outdoors is made more enjoyable by the array of bird songs that fill the air. Yet, did you know that some native birds of Northeast America are beneficial to the garden, while others can be detrimental? Being able to identify which birds are visiting the garden, helps gardeners determine whether or not they should be attracting or deterring these creatures.

Capel founded Border Sundials in 1991 initially making Armillary Spheres and later branching out into horizontal and vertical sundials.  ‘I love the connection that sundials provide between the heavens and earth but also the mathematical, scientific and cultural links they create between us and our forbears.’

This is a view of a corner in my Yorkshire garden that shows some recycling activity. I have tried various compost bin methods over the years. Initially I started with an open pile which was untidy and slow. At about this time I acquired a shredder which chopped up brown twiggy waste but only  squelched leaves.

The answer to the question is ‘of course green is a colour.’ Green is a mixture, a hybrid in gardening terms, as it is made from yellow and blue combined in varying quantities. But the emphasis is on the ‘made from’ of this answer.  The leaves above contain a higher proportion of blue whilst those below are more yellow in content.

‘Oh the old bamboo the old bamboo never-ever bother with the old bamboo’ That song reminds me to weed out the poor and damaged canes I have left over from previous seasons. Away with split canes that snag and frustrate and may carry disease.

Bob Dylan knew ‘You don’t need a weatherman. To know which way the wind blows……”

What I am talking about  are plants that are bigger than the biggest aspidistra in the Gracie Fields song book. They represent examples of the biggest natural organic organism in the world. I have three candidates for your consideration a couple of which may surprise you.

It is not quite red enough to be Lancastrian but I am happy to call it ‘a rambler from Manchester way’ in tribute to the old folk song (and the very old folk of Lancashire). You knew there may be a sting in the tail!

EVER HEARD the expression “birding by ear”? Despite my years-old collection of CDs (and even older tapes!), I have never gotten good at telling who’s who, sight unseen, perhaps knowing merely 15 of the 60ish avian voices who visit each year. A new online resource called All About Bird Song from Cornell Lab of Ornithology aims to improve our ability to retain the vocalizations by visualizing them—and also reveals what song is all about: its purpose, its mechanics, and just how amazing a feat it actually is.  

I LIVE ON A ROAD OF DAIRY FARMS, and have tractor envy, bigtime. My rig to the 10th power wouldn’t even equal theirs.

Yes, said my friend Ellen Blackstone of the BirdNote public-radio program, who has been the tour guide for our ongoing series of bird stories here on the blog. (Browse all past installments.)The part of the bird’s brain that’s used for singing shrinks to lighten the bird’s body mass in the offseason, she explained (and here’s the link to hear more on that). In fall and winter, there is no mating ritual; no need to stake out a territory.Many birds can still s

I first heard about “Bird Songs Bible: The Complete, Illustrated Reference for North American Birds,” edited by Les Beletsky, featuring sound from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and published by Chronicle Books, in this NPR segment last month. One caveat: The book-cum-boombox (birdbox?) ain’t cheap (cheep?) at $125.‘Millions Against Monsanto’ CampaignIWON’T ELABORATE OR START SHOUTING, but rather leave it at this: One of the things that scares me most is GMO crops, whether in the field or in our food. The Organic Consumers Union offers education, and also an advocacy program (aimed squarely at Monsanto, of course, whom they label “the biotech bully”) to make it easy for us all to add our names to the fight.