This is the man known as the ‘Lonely Mountaineer’, who feeds the birds every winter by tying apples to tree branches while he hikes in the mountains.

Huseyin Kahriman, 47, who lives in the town of Balcilar on the northern slopes of Taurus Mountains at an elevation of about 1,400 metres (4,593 feet) in Konya Province in southwest-central Turkey has been doing this for 20 years, ever since he “witnessed the death of a flock of birds from hunger and cold during heavy snowfall on a mountain on a winter’s day”.

Huseyin, who is known as the ‘Lonely Mountaineer’ because of his frequent climbs of the Taurus Mountains, hangs apples on the branches of the trees that he comes across on his journeys.

The death of the flock of birds 20 years ago had a huge impact on him. He told Newsflash: “They froze, falling on the snow and resting their heads on each other’s bodies. I collected some of them and heated them in my hut, they came to their senses. I fed them with bread crumbs. After a day, the weather cleared, and I returned them to nature.

“Saving lives has given me so much happiness. I used to hunt and I stopped hunting. I thought that I had to do something to keep animals alive.”

Huseyin added: “I’m not a bird expert, I just love keeping animals alive. I had to do something for the birds, because they are the most affected by the snow in winter.”

He said: “I had to do something and what I did had to be natural. I used to see it sometimes in the winter, a few apples were left on the trees and some birds would eat them. However, when the weather got too cold, those apples would fall to the ground and be covered with snow.

“I thought I had found the solution, and I decided to put apples on the trees. That’s when I started doing this. About 20 years ago.”

Huseyin said that the number of birds has increased noticeably in places where he has put apples on tree branches. He said: “Where the birds felt safe in the winter, they built nests in the spring.”

He added: “Feeding the birds in winter is extremely important for their future. In some years, the birds starve to death. Birds play an important role in the balance of nature. I believe that the working mechanism of nature would collapse without birds. And I want studies to be done for the birds to live.”

Huseyin has said that he has received an overwhelmingly positive reaction to his endeavours. He said: “Many people, especially children, have started to put apples on the trees.”