WILD BIRDS

Ours is fine until the Parakeets turn up and I am sure they have a system to let their friends know as one will turn up and then within 10 minutes there will be 10 of them all trying to get to the fat balls they really are a pest around here and in the Summer OH runs down the garden waving his arms like a banshee (its very funny) but too cold this time of year.
I have a very small metal bird feeder like a saucer on a stick, in a different place from the main feeder I always put some seed their for my Robin but sometimes the other birds find it first .

there.

We have a tree festooned with feeders. It's a bit embarrassing really. DH refills daily sometimes twice as there is a feeding frenzy on about now. We have woodpeckers constantly and an occasional goldfinch. Strange how they vanish when the RSPB watch is on though.

Costs me an absolute fortune. My original idea was to try and help the sparrow population, which it certainly seems to help increase their numbers, but I am also feeding most of the counties pigeon population which I find very embarrassing, but haven't found a way around that. Now I have a baby seagull (clearly delayed development) who grizzles every time I'm in time garden.

H spends quiet a bit on feeding wild birds, he buys various types of food to attract diferent species, unfortunately we only get the boring starlings, sparrows, feral pigeons, collared doves and magpies. We'd love to see various breeds of tits. We do see the occasional robin or wren.
Yesterday though H and I were thrilled and amazed to see a kestrel standing in the middle of the lawn it looked around for a minute or so then flew off.

Stansgran very true about the bird watch. Last year H and I sat for the 2 hrs and saw one lone sparrow. Not sure we'll bother this time.

28th/29th January if anyone is interested.

nina yes I actually think that we provide food for sparrows, starlings etc, and indirectly food for sparrow hawks - 2 of which have feasted on starlings.

We love our birds and have spent a fortune over the last 18 years particularly, feeding them, very few sparrows, many chaffinches, all the common tits, bullfinches, dunnocks, nuthatch, treecreepers, wrens, pigeons, doves, goldfinches, even a heron till we covered the pond and the odd sparrow hawk or buzzard. That was until we discovered about 3 months ago 3 baby rats feeding on the bird table, we stopped feeding the birds completely, thankfully the rats are now gone, cctv installed to confirm no more arriving, the birds are now being fed in a way that no seed or a very minimal amount gets spilt. We also have 3 or 4 hedgehogs who come nightly to feed.

Far more birds than there used to be. I think some share information but others, like our robin, are absolutely selfish. All the food in the garden belongs to our robin and he chases off any other bird to dares to land when he's feeding. They all have to wait until he's had his fill and moved on.

LadyGracie sparrows are all we see at our feeders, with a few blackbirds in the flower beds for good measure. Whoever said house sparrows were in decline should come and sit in my garden! Compared to our last garden, this one is a bird wilderness, despite us being closer to wood and farmland. We see goldfinches but they don't come down even to niger feeders.

Greyduster I love sparrows, the last time I saw any number was in my DS garden in Wiltshire, maybe they don't like it here in South Wales. We bought niger seeds but they weren't eaten, we buy a sack of 'no grow' seed on line, not cheap but there seems to be something for all the birds. There's nothing more relaxing than watching birds feeding particularly when they bring their babies. We had 2 bluetits investigating a nest box on New Year's Day, surely to early, or do they have an early booking system?

Since putting out bird feeders we have enjoyed many more birds visiting the garden Today I watch a Wren knock a large spider put of a creeper up the house, and first chase it and peck at it till it was all gone Never seen a wren so close before. Earlier there were two Nuthatch especially on the sun flower seeds.

I love the sparrows that come to my garden. They bicker and argue even though there is more than enough food. I also have a robin who chases any bird away when he's eating. I don't think he realises how small he is compared to the bigger birds he takes on but he has all the food to himself until he's satisfied then he allows the others to feed.

It always amuses me how teenage sparrows are like teenage children. They come into the garden and are quite capable of feeding themselves until they realise their parents are there too. Then they revert to chick begging behaviour until they get fed by the adults. Reminds me of my girls. Perfectly capable of making food for themselves unless I was in the kitchen when they tried to persuade me to make snacks for them. Didn't work as well for them as it seems to for the sparrows

We had a thrush in our garden this morning! A THRUSH!! Things are looking up ?.

Don't forget RSPB birdwatch today!

I think it is next weekend.

I saw a redwing this morning on a country walk, only the second I can recall seeing. Not rare, but an unusual sighting for me here in Oxfordshire.

Yes bird watch is next weekend