Is everyone putting food out for the birds?

[mysarahlee]

It's so cold, the ground birds can't dig.

Chuck some leftover Christmas nuts out, or some seeds. I put 10 fat balls out and filled the seeds at 5pm yesterday and it's empty this morning.

Feed your local bird pals if you can, it's so cold.

Yes, I just filled everything up yesterday. Water is also important.

That’s for the reminder @mysarahlee ive just checked my feeders, they weren’t empty but have topped them up (now need more fat balls and seed). Mister Robin was there when I went back out with fresh water for the bird bath.

Yes, we do it all year. They have a bird bath, and due to bird flu we put 3 piles of seeds down on the ground at the back of the garden near the trees. We have a pigeon who likes to bully the smaller birds, so find three piles stops him doing it 😆

I'm the same. I loved to feed the birds but found rats in the garden then mice invaded my kitchen so I've stopped.

Thank you for this lovely thread op. I have found my people!
I adore my garden birds, hence my name. For those of you struggling to attract them, just keep doing it and they will come. The best seed to put out for me is sunflower hearts.Best to put your feeders near a tree or high fence so they can perch before they swoop in.It took about 3 months to attract them to my garden and now it's like an aviary!

It's taken me 11 years to perfect my set up.
I use the jacobi jane squirrel buster feeders. They stop squirrels 90% of the time and pigeons can't use them. I also use a device on the feeders pole to stop anything climbing up the pole. Mine is like a metal tube open at one end rather than a plastic dome. There is plenty of food on the ground for them. I put my fat ball feeders in an apple tree that helps the smaller birds get their share. I counted 12 goldfinches on the sunflower hearts today.They were joined by two greenfinches and loads of chaffinch. We get all types of tit, robins, wren sparrows a plenty and I have dunnocks living in my garden bush. Of course my favourite is the nuthatch! I get GS woodpeckers most days, they seem to drop a baby off in our garden every summer. Rare visitors are blackcaps and goldcrests. If I am able to WFH, I position myself so I can watch the birds all day, heaven! Thank you to the pp with the reminders for fresh water and cleaning the feeders. We used to get so many greenfinches but there has been a huge decline because of finch disease.
I was having a big problem with a certain male sparrowhawk, but I've managed to fix that by hanging up some old cd's on a tree. My dogs keep the cats away most of the time.

My birds will only eat a certain type of fat ball, I would love to know if anyone else has this problem? They only eat the pets at home ones.in a square plastic tub.They go mad for them but if I put out another type or brand, they leave them to go mouldy. My birds also never touch peanuts!

I didn't know they existed! What a great idea. Could you point me towards a supplier please?

That sounds wonderful ☺️

Sounds like a great set up.
Where do you put the sunflower hearts to attach finches please.. do you put them in the Jacobi Jane feeder?

Yes mine love mealworm! Please everyone remember regularly disinfecting feeders as there's sadly lots of deadly disease spreading between birds and feeders are a major cause. Hot soapy water, well rinsed and dried does the trick.

Yes I put them in the jacobi jane seed feeders and hang them on my main feeding station. They love them.

I found that using mixed seed or black sunflower seeds attracted vermin as there was lots of waste on the ground below. I feed sunflower hearts now and there is no mess left below. The ground feeders keep it clean. I also have a device attached to the feeder pole that stops anything climbing up. I haven't had any problems since. HTH

Thank you nuthatch

DH has taken over bird feeding duties, which he carries out with military precision. We do have a wonderful range of visitors though - including nuthatches, who are also one of my favourites. Had a brief visit from a male bullfinch the other day. Beautiful.

Thanks @TheNuthatch

Any chance you could tell us or show us what the device is to stop squirrels going up the feeder pole

https://www.gardenwildlifedirect.co.uk/metal-squirel-proof-baffle.html?prodid=702690&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA7Y28BhAnEiwAAdOJUOxZPO2WlTMIB-bxW6KWFy4stNmqZ2Wu8k4qA-AcPzn6IMUG1pP-NRoCChIQAvD_BwE

Mine is quite old now, but this is the latest version. It works well but must be positioned in the right spot on the pole. It doesn't get as filthy as the dome one I used to use which was always covered in poop!

It’s very unfair calling an animal not nice. They are doing what comes naturally to them for survival. Yes they are invasive but they’ve been here for over 100 years now and it was our fault why they are here in the first place! IMO humans are the only creature that can be called ‘not nice’ and indeed vermin.

I’m so jealous that you can attract these birds. I was reminded that our neighbours’ cat is a bastard today when I saw him earlier torturing g a mouse he’d caught. Poor bloody thing.

do you think I need to discourage the birds, given the murderous cats? Such a shame. We used to get many birds before the cats came.

Yes! Dh feeds the birds daily. We had snow last week & he fed them 3 times a day with fat balls & seeds & a couple of times bacon fat on the tinfoil which our resident Robin went mad for

Dh was stocking up on fat balls earlier today & our Iocal pet shop was giving out free wild bird seed which i think is fantastic!

We love seeing all the birds. Our feeder is by our kitchen window & now we have regular customers who come & wait on the window ledge!

@TheNuthatch
Thank you

I often wonder what my cat owning neighbours would think if my dogs were allowed to pop into their gardens whenever they please, have a shit, and kill some wildlife 🤔

‘I often wonder what my cat owning neighbours would think if my dogs were allowed to pop into their gardens whenever they please, have a shit, and kill some wildlife 🤔’

Quite! Cats have a ‘right to roam’ though as my NND tells me . 🙄 Not a right to shit in my garden and kill the birds though!

I adore watching my birds, have a 'feeding station' with a squirrel buster underneath, a few feet away from my Kitchen window..
Every day i put out an entire feeder of Sunflower hearts, an entire feeder of Peanuts and at least 4 Fat balls. By the evening its all gone! i spend a fortune..

I also have a bird bath, and change the water daily before i go to work..theres a lady Blackbird that has at least one long bath a day.

My absolute love is watching the family of Woodpeckers i get, i was worried about the smallest baby Woodpecker last year, as he was rubbish at landing initially, and wasnt good at pecking.., but hes got bigger now, not as big as dad but almost certainly mum size.

Can you tell i'm slightly obsessed?

Lovely thread!

We are topping our feeders up every day at the moment and breaking the ice in the pond so they can have a drink

Is anybody doing the rspb big garden birdwatch we've done it for years and make a whole day around it!

Also has anyone else heard about not using flat feeders at the moment due to a virus in birds or something?

In the back garden where the feeders are we mainly have starlings and pigeons. In the front we get bluetits and robins and occasionally a pair of goldfinches I saw them yesterday. I bought one of those njer seed things that goldfinches are meant to love but they never touch it 😂

Yes @Decafflatteplease, usually a family friend comes to do our birdwatch, but looks like we'll be doing it this year.

I have the dilemma of loving both birds and felines. I figure that increasing the health and survival of birds mitigates against some of the predation, and the squirrel dome things do prevent cats jumping up to some extent.