Keep warm and help keep the little birds happy as well

Hello Boys and Girls, I HOPE you are all keeping warm and cosy these days. My it's got chilly. I thought going into February would warm thins up a bit. What happened to all this global warming I'm wondering? Still, I remember when I was in school January was always the coldest month. We often couldn't get to school because of the snow and we had to stay at home and make big snowmen and have snowball fights all day. Poor us! The hill behind our house was great for toboggans and lots of children came out from the town with every sort of thing which could be used to slide down on. I even remember the lake being frozen so solid that some men played golf on it with red golf balls. It never freezes that hard any more so stay away from frozen water, boys and girls. It's very dangerous. While the cold weather can mean some fun for us we must remember it's a very different story for wild animals, especially the birds. I have to break the ice on my water font every morning now to make sure my feathered friends can get a drink. A lovely little robin waits there for me to get out of my warm bed and serve it breakfast. I don't mind because the robin is my favourite bird. In fact most people are fond of robins for all sorts of reason but I thinks it's mainly because they are so friendly. Robin Legends Long, long ago before St Patrick arrived in Ireland the people were kind to robins because they believed that the robin had flown up to the sun and down to hell to get fire for humans. Doing this it singed its breast and this was the reason it is red. The robin was treated so nicely that it got used to humans and some get very cheeky indeed. So cheeky that this is what we call the robin who visits our garden, Cheeky. It comes right up beside me when I'm digging the garden and demands worms. If I'm not digging fast enough it seems to get irritated and hops around like it's angry with me. Tom the Vet told me his favourite bird is the robin. The robin in his garden actually feeds from his hand. Little by little he placed the feed closer and closer to him until eventually the robin fed from the palm of his hand. I've seen it with my own eyes and I'm trying the same with Cheeky right now. Another story told about the robin is that when Jesus was on the cross a robin felt so sorry for him that it flew down and tried to peck some of the thorns from the crown of thorns put on his head. Some of Jesus' blood splashed on the robin and that is why it has a red breast ever since. The Birds Are Hungry Most wild birds can get through November and December ok. But the cold, frost and sometimes snow in January makes life really hard for them. You see the ground freezes and they can't dig out worms and the like. As you know, the days are also so short now that they have less time for hunting. They can become wet and hungry and very cold and sometimes they just don't make it to Spring. So why not give them a little helping hand. A few crumbs here, a few potato skins there could make all the difference. But remember, you have to keep it up. Birds are creatures of habit and if they get used to feeding in one spot they keep coming back. How would you like it if you came down for your breakfast and discovered that someone just forgot about breakfast? Then when you came home from school hungry enough to eat your schoolbag, the same thing happened. 'Dinner? Oops! I just forgot. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see' isn't exactly what you want to hear. Is it? Do what you can for the little creatures. Bye for now, Uncle Jasper BIG HELLO A BIG hello to the Kilcommins girls from Belclare, Aoife, Sinead and Clodagh. Keep up the good work ladies.