Gardening with John Ladlow - professional gardener and Estate Manager for over 50 years In The Garden


Natural Variations in Plants and Animals


Shiro Wabisuke


WE encourage birds to our garden with feeders, bird baths, and bird tables. We also provide several different kinds of bird food all the year round. When we first moved in, and cleared the garden we planted as many things as we could that would encourage wild life. This has been successful as we get lots of different birds visiting; I keep a record of what I see in and around the garden and in 12 years have recorded 80 different species of bird. One bird that turned up on the table a few weeks ago looked like a Great tit but had a completely black head, I kept a look out for it and eventually managed to get a reasonable photo of it. As I was not sure about it I got in contact with various experts, and contacted the British Trust for Ornithology. It is a Great tit all right but has developed different pigmentation of the feathers. It is uncommon but not unique, and is due to a phenomenon known as melanism, where black pigmentation dominates. Pheasants and Pied wagtails are prone to this and sometimes albinism occurs which will make a bird or animal white, and is the opposite of melanism. The reason that they are not often seen is that other birds or animals are likely to pick on something different, and so they are unlikely to survive. Adversely though melanism can be advantageous in an animal as in the case of the Black Panther which gives it greater camouflage for hunting at night. 22


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