I know it will come as a blow to many of my wonderful customers but I’ve had to make the decision to postpone my indoor and outdoor group classes for a few weeks. This has been a difficult call for me to make as I originally thought that we could manage government guidelines for a while longer by meeting in small groups outdoors. It became clear to me this weekend, while out birdwatching by myself, that I would be putting people in danger. There were so many people out walking in large family groups in parks and on nature reserves. Many were not observing the 2 metre distance when approaching others on paths and when crossing bridges. It really did feel as though the world had begin a big holiday.
This situation is unprecedented and none of us know for sure what the outcome is going to be. The next few weeks are going to be very difficult for many of us so what I’ve decided to do is to keep you all connected by writing more blogs and Facebook posts as we go through the spring and early summer. I hope you find comfort knowing that the natural world is still continuing as usual while we’re all restricted in our movements. If you have any questions, or you would just like to keep in touch by email to report your garden sightings then please don’t hesitate to contact me.
I’ve also been meaning to start a new project for a long time. This is to connect my neighbours to increase the diversity of wildlife on our local patch. One of my neighbours received a grant to start a planting scheme last year and has set up a What’s App group to connect us all during the Covid-19 outbreak. I’ve now been able to tap into this to start discussions on increasing diversity. It’s an ideal time to focus on our gardens while we’re confined to barracks! Thanks to technology, I’m sure we can do a lot of positive work without actually meeting up. I’ll keep you posted.
Regarding swifts, Martin and I will be communicating about all swift matters and this year’s breeding season via our Leeds Swifts newsletter and Facebook page. Our breeding swifts will arrive at their nest sites in the first week of May. You can sign up to this by contacting leeds.swifts@gmail.com or by using the sign up form on the Start Birding home page.