Watchers’ Newsletter – January 2012

Happy New Year! Here we go with another of our occasional newsletters.

Celebrating 15 years:

 In September we celebrated 15 years since opening Watchers. Little did we appreciate then what we were letting ourselves in for. Over the years we’ve made lots of friends with a common interest in wildlife and have enjoyed a unique insight into our local birdlife through our customer feedback. We really do appreciate it and look forward to continuing to help you care for your wildlife.

The ‘new look’ Watchers:

From the beginning of October we took the major step of closing our retail shop and moving over entirely to free home delivery. We are pleased to say that not only have we seen no drop in overall turnover, but regularising our delivery days to different areas has meant a far more efficient service for our customers, thus keeping our delivery costs under control. Don’t forget, you can still order non-food products (feeders, hygiene, nestboxes etc). If you are unsure of your exact needs you can ask to view a selection to choose from.

Supporting local wildlife:

Throughout 2011 we have been involved in a number of local initiatives to protect and enhance local wildlife and habitats, including working with the Westmorland Red Squirrel Society, the British Trust for Ornithology and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust. We have also set up a bird viewing area and feeding station jointly with the National Trust at Sizergh Castle, which is providing a great opportunity for visitors to view a wide variety of species at close range. We recommend a visit.

Credit and Debit Cards:

We now accept credit and debit cards. To pay by this method either present your card to Harry when he delivers or telephone us and speak personally to Harry or Robina. In either case we will make a note of your card details and then process the transaction. As soon as the transaction is cleared your card details are destroyed. For security please do not leave card details on our answerphone.
Watchers’ Website: Our website, www.watcherswildlife.co.uk, continues to be ‘work in progress’. With the best of intentions, we tried (and failed) to get an online shop up and running via a local website designer, but have had to move to plan B: if you want something doing, do it yourself. As usual, however, other jobs (like doing deliveries, chatting and drinking customers’ coffee) take priority but watch this space (or rather, our webspace). If it ever gets completely up to date it will probably mean we are short of business.

Ouch...not another price increase!

We carry out food price reviews every three months instead of predicting prices (and price rises) twelve months in advance as do many of the mail order bird food suppliers with fancy colour catalogues. We have been able to keep some of our products the same price for long periods by buying in bulk and passing on the bulk discounts to our customers. Unfortunately, one major factor has forced complete price revision from the 1st January:
Bird safe peanuts have become increasingly rare and expensive. With aflatoxin fungus, which is harmful to humans and deadly to birds, becoming endemic throughout the major peanut producing nations and the increasing use of peanuts as biofuels and as feed for meat production, what little is left that is aflatoxin free is being purchased for human consumption. The wholesale price has risen by over 50% per 25kg sack in the past 12 months. Bird safe peanuts are also used in most good quality birdfood mixes, so their prices have inevitably been affected. Also, unfortunately the scarcity of bird safe peanuts has increased the demand for (and the price of) sunflower products, which provide the best alternative feeds. Watchers has been absorbing the increasing peanut prices as a loss leader for some time in the hope that prices may drop, but this hasn’t happened, so we’ve now been forced reluctantly to charge a proper commercial price. The consolation is that we are still amongst the cheapest retail suppliers of bird safe peanuts and sunflower products in the U.K..
Our suppliers expect prices to level out for the next few months, so we don’t anticipate any further major increases in the near future, but there may well come a time when bird safe peanuts are no longer available.
Please compare our prices: As part of our regular price reviews we check our prices against other suppliers of good quality foods such as the RSPB, CJ Wild Bird Foods, Garden Bird Supplies, Haiths etc. We are confident that we offer the best value in our area. Our price promise is:
If you can find elsewhere the same quality foods delivered to your home for less, then we promise to advise you to buy elsewhere!

Holidays:

Please note that there will be no deliveries during the week of 20th – 25th February as Harry is off to Scotland for the Kendal Mountain Rescue Team’s annual winter training.

Telephone 015395 35910