We’ve had several feeders hanging inside an Acer Palmatum which the birds really like, as they feel protected, even with the leaves off. They really go for the sunflower hearts, especially the Goldfinches, which seem to have had a pretty good breeding year, there’s often twenty or more out on the feeders now. There’s often several bluetits and greattits as well as a regular family of sparrows, and a couple of Greenfinches. A couple of robins and blackbirds, and a small number of Starlings come along too. Oddly, I tried some large fatballs last year and the birds ignored them, and I tried stringing peanuts this year and those got ignored as well, but small fatballs in a feeder are proving popular, and fat filled coconut shells are popular as well. The ground under the tree usually has a carpet of sunflower seed bits, which the blackbirds, pigeons and goldfinches go for, and the hedgehogs take advantage of too.

woffle

We’re also currently being visited by a barn owl that sits on an ash tree about 10 foot from our bedroom

That’s so exciting. One of my favourite birds.

The local tawny owl who’s very vocal at the moment, is the nearest thing here.

That’s so exciting. One of my favourite birds.

The local tawny owl who’s very vocal at the moment, is the nearest thing here.

It scares me half to death some mornings as it likes to fly ahead of me for 200-300 yards in the dark down the hill – I’ll be bombing along and all of a sudden there’s this ghostly bird silently flying in front of me. I’m a very, very lucky boy to live where i do sometimes…

one these in your garden, coupled with a trip as required to the local rehoming charity will help as well

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAT-TRAP-FERAL-cat-trap-humane-cat-ch-Trap-Man-/250689081130?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Cats&hash=item3a5e3bcf2a

Because birds have never managed to find their own food in the last thousand years. It’s a good job we are all going to feed them before they get wiped out

Slightly different landscape, human population and impact on the countryside than even 50 years ago – use your nut.

However I disagree with discouraging sparrowhawks etc, all birds need to eat and sparrowhawks dont go around ruthlessly hoovering up birds, they take what they need to survive, usually the slowest.

Putting a ping pong ball or something in the water (that will move with the wind), helps to keep it ice free.

Has anyone actually tried this with any success? I bought some ping pong balls especially for this purpose. The ball just froze into the ice.

Has anyone actually tried this with any success? I bought some ping pong balls especially for this purpose. The ball just froze into the ice.

Never worked for me – it was also a recommendation for the chicken’s water (they’re meant to peck at it hence keeping the water free of ice). That doesn’t work either – still have to make regular trips down the garden twice a day to make sure they’ve got water to drink.

Father in law has a very cheap bird table…6ft length of 2″x4″ with an old biscuit tin lid nailed to the top!

Just put some seeds out rolled in last weeks grill pan fat contents.

25kg bag bird seed on ebay.

owls…. birds with a cats face.. don’t trust them

Slightly different landscape, human population and impact on the countryside than even 50 years ago – use your nut.

wrong, a hugely different landscape than we had prior to the last war.

So how do the bird know what food is for them?

Can they read?

Robin food.

Sparrow Food

Blackbird Food.

I suspect it could be a marketing ploy, unless they can indeed read.

If they can, Dunnocks are going to get confused.

About this time of year i start to get blackcaps in the garden. I put apple segments into the trees, but when food is short the blackbirds/thrushes/fieldfares etc monopolise them. As others have said, i’ve tried fat balls in the past but nothing seems to want to eat them as is. So I ended up with one of those RSPB fat ball feeders with a mesh cage around it that wasn’t getting used. I’ve found this is ideal for feeding the blackcaps. Put the apple segments into it instead of fat balls. The cage stops the larger birds from getting to the food.

If you end up with fat balls that won’t get eaten, shred them. The wrens, goldcrests, dunnocks etc will eat the shavings.

OK, I made it, what do you think?

😉

Not a bird table as such, but did botch togeter some old bits of wood to make a feeding post.

Waiting now to see who will be first to try.

3 x 10kg bags of Mixed corn from Scats

couple of handfuls each day, garden full of birds 8)

s – that’s great.
You may want to put extra wire around the feeders as a gust of strong wind might blow them off.
Also do you have a hedge, bush or tree nearby, as the birds often need a quick get a way? If so move it nearer to some cover.

BH thanks for the wire tip, no trees!, well only a small family apple tree I put in last year. Its a newish estate so very few mature trees!

No birds yet…………….;-)

Just a wee bump for this thread…nice to see them in the garden!

Some good info on what is good to feed the birds on the RSPB site.

Been making the fat balls at home with lard, raisins, bird nuts, porridge oats, cheese and they seem to be going down well. If you’ve got kids could be worth a wee making and doing session when they have finished playing the snow. We’ve had wagtails, robins, blue tits, chaffinches, blackbirds, song thrushes, dunnocks. Its got to be said the wagtail is a wee bully 🙂

Mealworms on offer 2 buckets for £4 at Wilko at the moment. They are guzzling them down here at the moment.

OK,

Its been 5 days since I built my feeding post, still no sign of any fluttering friends.

It may be well to early to see some action yet, but with this cold snap I did wonder if I have made a big mistake with something?

I have put out some..

fat balls (from a local shop)

Bird peanuts

Mixed bird seed

The feeder is nearly smack in the centre of our garden, there are no trees nearby (its a newish garden) & is a good 20 feet away form the house, no cats, well well they are locked in at the moment & the garden is quiet away from any busy roads.

To the left of the feeder is a wooden garden arch, you can just see the 6′ stake to the left of the pic, which a foot or so higher than the feeder.

TBH, very few of our neighbours have bird feeders out, so I guess that cannot help, plus the lack of natural vegatation to make them feel safe.

Is there anything else I can do to help them feed?

Ta

p.s. will take some more pics over the weekend so you can get a better idea of where the feeder is placed in my garden.

Mealworms on offer 2 buckets for £4 at Wilko at the moment. They are guzzling them down here at the moment.

Have you any idea how much fat there is in a mealworm ? 😯

You’re gonna end up with obese chavvy burds in your garden mate 😐

Here’s a little video of my set up…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4[/video]

as for water, get a plant pot, a metal dogs bowl, a 100w (or there abouts, non energy saving) light bulb, a pendant socket and an extension lead.

cut the socket end off the extension lead
thread the lead through the hole in the plant pot
connect the pendant socket to the cut end
place pot in garden, trail lead to socket with circuit breaker
fill up bowl with water, put it in the top of the pot (you can find ones that fit perfectly!)
go indoors, turn the light on
sit on sofa eating cake in the knowledge that the birds now have water that wont freeze and you can watch them flock to it 🙂

Or for an easier/quicker solution, let them eat snow.

Unless you want to provide them with a hot bath of course.

I’ve got a seed dispenser and a fat filled half cococnut shell hanging from my shed. Nothing has partaken in this Smörgåsbird (<see what I did there?) But it’s there if they need it.

Saw this beautiful picture in the Daily Mail yesterday. Taken last week before the big freeze.

Here’s some action from my feeders earlier this year:

[video]http://www.vimeo.com/12802922[/video]

The winter version is currently being filmed.

s – give it time. Put out scraps often too.
Today I put out the bits of fat from the ham sandwiches I made at lunch and some bits of cheese. The best bird food by far are the sunflower hearts.
Things that will help the birds to feed from you garden are:
Having a pond (dosent matter how small).
Having a bird bath.
Protection, look at beamers film, his feeder is well tucked into the tree.

Can’t agree more about the protection.

Our current garden in that movie above has that large Chestnut tree from which the feeders hang and quite a thick hedge to the right of the camera and running at 90 degrees to the fence. Plenty of protection for the birdies.

Our previous garden was quite a different story:

_MG_3757 by Mark and Kirsty Beaman, on Flickr

No trees or hedges at all. Consequently it took ages for the birds to arrive but they did eventually.

Particularly enjoyed watching this character on her regular visits:

_MG_4623 by Mark and Kirsty Beaman, on Flickr

Stick at. The birds will come.