to think that people are unaware how desperate things are for birds?

[PhaseolusLunatus]

The RSPB are saying that food and water we provide can be the difference between life and death for garden birds at the moment.

Advice here about what you may already have in the house that could help.

They also need water to drink, and, just as importantly, bathe and perform 'feather maintenance.'

There is also a thread about this in chat, but I don't imagine anyone minds a bit more bumping of this topic.

Britain's Bird Tables Changing the Path of Evolution

Thanks for the link, RubberDuck. Funnily enough we have a blackcap that visits our feeders.

right i went out this morning at 6.45am before i left to go to work

and i renewed water, and threw away the wet soggy bread, cheese and porridge oats

and replinished the lot

went to work and dh who is at home, said not a dicky bird has come

Well, feeding the flipping birds RSPB labelled bird seed is costing me £103 in new glass after ds3 locked me out in the back garden and couldn't unlock the door again. Seed has been there since Friday morning and still there and not a dickie bird in sight

Have fat balls, fat sticks, fat rings suspended from the sycamore, and two bird food feeders. the woodpecker loves the fat sticks, hangs on and pecks away for dear life.

On the pine we have a coconut filled with fat and bird food, a fat hoop, a peanut feeder, and bird feeder and a hanging bird table, which the blackbird managed to get on the ground last week.

The robins need the coconut and the bird table as they don't seem able to hang on to the fat balls in their feeder or the nut feeder in the same way as the tits do. We also have had bramblings here and the jay made an appearance today as well. We have great tits and blue tits on the nut feeder and I am convinced one of the great tits is called Nobby as they seem to be his nuts, and his alone.

I seem to have about 15 regulars and lots of them seem to live in the massive pine at the bottom of the garden. The birds have needed lots of feed this winter as we had snow in Belgium well before Christmas and it hasn't really gone, plus more has fallen.

We are sadly lacking in the fat ball department here, but this morning have been visited by robins, blackbirds, bluetits, a thrush and a pair of woodpeckers nonetheless.

again my buffet was refused yesterday

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm trying again today with rice and raisins and fruit

fed up with scrapping hard.frosty bread off the table each morning

ungrateful buggers

again i was out at 6.45am before going to work pouring boiling water in tray and the bloody birds were on the tree watching me again

bet i come home to a full table

blondes - I have had more luck clearing a piece of ground of snow and putting the food on there - the birds dont like my table either.

will try that tomorrow

Blondes has anything visited the buffet yet? We've had a load more snow last night so my garden has been more popular that usual today.

I have a bird!!!!!

Yesterday a blackbird came, and she is back again today.

Anyone know the best way to serve her apple?

Cheese on toast is todays offering, is this ok? along with the seed and peanut feeders(she doesn't seem interested in those though)

I am just putting it out on a plate on a chair in the garden, not sure if it will put the birds off if it wobbles? We don't have a bird table yet, as have never managed to attract any birds before. Anyone got a favourite table design to suggest, we had no takers when we had one of those hanging ones the children can paint.....I'm guessing the lurid pink and green splodges/sparkley stickers design was not de riguer in Bird Ideal Home

we have several feeders dotted round the outside of the house, mainly as we have an agreessive terratorial robin, he attacks the other birds if they feed off his feeder.

he can't protect all of them at the same time

we get loads of greenfinches, great finches various tits and black birds and have a family of song thrushes at the moment which I am loving.. they are SO pretty!
They are messy feeders and the last few days we have had a pair of pheasants feeding from the mess on our front lawn.

Thanks for this thread! We had more snow overnight so I've just put out some saltanas and bread, and placed a carton of water outside with a ball in it, and within 5 minutes there must have been about 15-20 seagulls circling our garden!! The solitary pigeon was trying to stand his ground but don't think he was that successful

Yay! we now have a robin, a tit of some sort (black stripe on head), and Mr Blackbird. I am so excited as we have never had any success before- just shows they must be hungry!

I put stuff out for them a few weeks ago but I never have birds in my garden and the food has remained untouched one of cats is way too good at hunting birds. I know a nice oldish neighbour feeds them though (as she says my cat spends a fair amount fo time in her garden, I suggested she shoo him away he doesn't like humans so just walking towards him would do).

I worry about the birds of prey in this weather, they struggle over winter just like garden birds and quite a lot of UK birds of prey are scavangers but if dead animals/roadkill are covered up by the snow they won't be able to feed.

If this thread has sparked an interest, don't forget you can do the RSPB's Big Bird Watch at the end of Jan!

nope

not a soul ate anything

really dont know if will bother tomorrow

im even giving them fresh bread and not dry/mouldy stuff

Snow Watch on BBC2 now. Lots of very little birds have already perished as it's difficult for them to keep their core temperature up

Keep feeding!

I have been going out at 6.45 each morning to feed the bird put water out. We have been rewarded with lots of lovely birds.(Black bird, great tits, Blue tits, Chaffinch, sparrows, wagtails, robin, starlings, doves Thrush and jack daws! We are having behavioural issues with one black bird - he keeps chasing away all the other birds wanting to feed too!

Its costing me a small fortune in seed though

Gah because of this thread I gave in to the RSPB chugger today and am now a fully paid up member [shakes fist]

We've been feeding too,DS1 in particular has been great- breaking up ice etc.As he has ASD I amextra proud and noted in for his TA so she can praise him asw ell.

I think most people must be aware now,seeing as Asda has all but sold out of bird food.

I think the birds must be unaware how desperate I am for them to come and eat from my glorious homemade bird feeder that has been hung out in the garden, ignored since the weekend. There's a veritable gourmet feast waiting for them and they don't seem to want it.

went to petshop and brought bird seed/peanuts and fat balls and still not a soul

they just sit on the tree and watch me

[whispers so blondes wont hear] - I've just had a family of blackbirds (one of which used the plastic water bowl), 4 pigeons, a robin and a thrush.

All after the hot cross buns I think.