Wild Birds

We have a good collection of birds, but they have to "find" your feeder, if it's new, and will gradually come. They quite like it near a tree or bush so they feel safer, with somewhere to hide.

Ours love half coconuts stuffed with fat/seeds and sunflower hearts which we buy in a big sack. I love the gang of long tailed tits - pretty little birds. I buy good quality, previously tried cheap £1 shop and sometimes I think the fat balls were a bit rancid and not at all popular.

A bit foggy this morning but the bluetits have now got used to enjoying crumbled up fatballs in the new birdhouse DH was given for Christmas.

Goldfinches, greenfinches, the odd chaffinch and bull finch all visit our garden and eat from the seed feeders quite happily - they all totally ignore the nyjer seeds bought specially for them.

We had a new bird table last week as ours disintegrated and this one seems to stick out like a sore thumb. It is a garish wood because DH decided a hardwood wouldn't be affected by the rain so much as the old one. It took the birds a while but they have come back. As we had a new bird table, I treated us to new seed feeders and nut baskets. I hate trying to wash the smelly seed feeders.

We are beginning to feed the red kites as they are so common in our area now. It is a magnificent sight when they swoop down for the chicken legs.

my dad has put out food for the birds for years but he doesn't get anywhere near the number he used to. thwy only seem to come when it is really cold

I'm very excited!!! I've just had a Jay on my bird table.

It's the feeder with sunflower seeds we get goldfinches on. They go on the feeder after they have polished off the seeds on the dead Evening Primrose and Japanese Anemone plants. Important not to tidy up the garden too much in the Autumn.

Kindle preferred bagpipes to magpies.

We also have a lot of magpies and pigeons, I suppose they have to live too.

My hanging feeders got soggy and rusty so I replaced them yesterday with posh ones from the 99p shop........only the best you understand. Lots of birds today.

Apparently the feeders have to be near bushes so they can line up to feed. ( some hope.)

When I taught the man in the nature centre used to get the kids to mix nuts, fruit etc with melted lard and put into plastic cups. However he never seemed t o hang these up but rather smeared it in the cracks and elbows off trees. The birds loved it. An idea with the GC.

We have bird feeders having in the small trees in our garden. They are visited by a large population of house sparrows, blue tits, great tits, and chaffinches. My DH scatters seed on the rocks under the tree for the blackbirds, robins, jackdaws and pheasant!
When we first came here we didn't see many birds at all, now we get loads.

If you want goldfinches you have to seduce them with nyjer seeds. They are small seeds and need a special dispenser. i guess that is because normal bird food is not close enough to the thistley seeds they feed on in the wild.

We have a huge flock of feral pigeons which gobble up all the food we put on the garden table. OH has devised a crafty device to scare them off: he hung a remote controlled doorbell in a plastic bag under the table. When the flock descends he presses the bell on the dining room window cill and they all take off in fright. They soon come back though...

We seem to have a lot of magpies which nest in a neighbour's conifer - I get very upset in the spring when they steal blackbird's eggs and drop the shells in the garden and menace the smaller birds. They do seem to be on the increase.
They also make a very loud screeching noise from about 5.30 am. One year a young magpie must have had a deformed wing because he couldn't fly far, but would hop around the hedge - he (or she) used to screech and squawk constantly for his mother.

We get goldfinches here later in the year, but they won't come into the garden. They sit on the tv ariel and sing their hearts out. I have tried putting niger seed out, for which they will normally sell their souls, but no go.

Don't forget the RSPB birdwatch the last weekend in January. We've been doing it a few years now but our sightings seem to be reducing.

Our seed feeders are very popular with finches.

I have a good range of birds visiting including green and spotted woodpeckers. I have found that my birds have expensive tastes and do not like the economy feeds...sunflower hearts, suet pellets and meal worms will entice a good variety. The peanuts are popular too and I quite like the squirrels pinching them!

Yes, we've had goldfinches on our feeders, although rarely seen in the garden these days.

Blackbirds love sultanas - I sprinkle a few in the big flower tubs on the patio for them in the Spring.

Goldfinches feed on our seed feeder.

Finches and wagtails won't feed on feeders- I always put sunflower seeds on the patio for them- same for blackbirds.

We used to have bird feeders in the back garden and out the front, on the grass verge. Wagtails on the ground at the back - never in the garden. The range of species visiting the two different sites was not the same. Never saw a greenfinch in the garden for instance. I concluded the back was more sheltered with bushes nearby and that some species prefer a bit of cover close at hand - while others prefer to have a good view in all directions.

Nature, red in tooth and claw! We used to get sparrowhawks - they were quite bold, sitting in the fir tree just feet from my patio windows. I absolutely loved them.

Oh yes, we have a resident sparrow hawk too- and he does sometimes comes to the bird feeder- but not for the seeds. Nature is nature.

He did once come to pick all the sparrows from a nest on a beam right above the patio- Just couldn't help it and screamed at him- but he just looked down to me with disdain and got on with the job (feeding his own chicks I suppose).

We also get great spooted woodpeckers.

The birds do take time to get used to something new; we have had nest boxes in the garden for two or three years before they were used. One nest (for blue tits) was up for many years until one spring a great tit came, made the hole bigger and used it.
Once we had goldfinches visiting the lavender and eating the seeds but we have never seen them since.

A sparrowhawk visits occasionally and takes a sparrow off in its beak or feet.
One time it tried to take a pigeon (hungry or ambitious?) the pigeon escaped but flew smack into a window leaving a beautiful complete imprint of itself with outstretched wings, stunning itself. The sparrowhawk came down and took it off to the top of the garden and ate it (apart from the feathers).

It took a long time for most of the birds to come to my feeding station, except for the goldfinches which appeared within 5 minutes of my hanging up a new niger seed feeder. I have had difficulty finding squirrel-proof items, would advise against purchasing this style!