Bird Feeding!

L

lard

Guest
Come on them ,

Who does it ?

What feed do you have ?

What birds have you seen in your garden ?

I purchased a cheap feeding station from BM stores last year only cost £6


Tried Fat balls , peanuts, sunflower hearts , seed mix, meal worms.

Have sparrows , blue tits, starlings, Blackbirds, Magpies, Wood pidgeons and also a sparrow hawk which only came for the sparrows not the feed.:D
 
I'm Red Till Dead

I'm Red Till Dead

John Robertson
Re: Bird Feeding

I had one when I was in London. It would attract tits and finches, but mostly these -

Oh nuts.jpg

I don't have one now. It would be cruel for the cats!:lol:
 
H

Hotchip

First Team Squad
Re: Bird Feeding

I used to feed with sunflower hearts. But it encouraged rats, so had to stop, now no rats!
 
L

lard

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

I know they can be a problem (squirrels), Thankfully we don't have them around here.
 
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L

lard

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

Hotchip said:
I used to feed with sunflower hearts. But it encouraged rats, so had to stop, now no rats!
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Alot of people say watch out for rats , So far I haven't seen one. And welcome to the Forum.
 
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H

Hotchip

First Team Squad
Re: Bird Feeding

I gave what sunflower hearts I had left to my dad. He then got rats, so he stopped, he still feeds birds with meal worms, rats don't seem to like them.
 
W

winnits

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

I have three birds in the house :lol:

We do feed the garden birds too :)
 
P

Pierre Stan Roydonk

Viv Anderson
Re: Bird Feeding

You will need to buy a niger seed feeder and seeds. They're pretty pricey but well worth it for the Goldfinches. They will also attract Greenfinches. They're pretty attractive to finches, they love them but it will probably take a while for them to notice them or start to use the feeder. The birds need to trust the surroundings and feeders first. The sparrows will eat them if they're is nothing else available. Sparrows are supposed to be rare nowadays but I've loads in our garden and they are greedy little feckers.

I'd advise to pay as much as you can afford for bird seed, because skimping on it is false economy. The birds will discard those that they don't like
in order to find the seeds they do like, or they will not eat it at all. The discarded seeds will attract pests such as rats, pigeons and crows. Also, with bird seed mixes, try to get the ones with no husks as the birds will crack the seed and discard the husks. This will create a mess.

Another tip is for Squirrels, if theyre a problem on your peanuts, sprinkle the peanuts with cayenne pepper. It will not affect the birds as they have a dry mouth but it does deter the squirrels for a while. The peanuts will go mouldy pretty quickly though. There is really no way to deter squirrels and I've tried everything, traps, contraptions, pepper, banging on the window like a nutter. I found the best deterrent to be the hosepipe :lol:

Top tips

1. Sunflower Hearts or Black sunflower.
2. Buy niger seed for goldfinches (you will not regret it)
3. A quality seed mix with no husks.
4. Fresh water in a Birdbath (clean it regularly)
5. Clean your feeders regularly.
6. Place feeders near cover, bushes and trees. The birds will feel safer from their predators if they have quick cover and escape routes.
7. Buy a good pair of binoculars and have patience to wait. It will take a while to get a good variety of species visiting. I've had all sorts of visitors over the years.
8. Pepper your nuts.

I'd go through a list of species if you're interested Lard. It does help that I'm pretty near woodland and a local watercourses though.
 
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sedgred

Banned
Re: Bird Feeding

Always encouraged birds into the garden by feeding them, when we lived out amongst the sticks, the variety of birds we attracted were not as varied as we attract now whilst living on the edge of a town.

As we are moving right back to the sticks, it will be interesting to compare once more, when we get settled.
 
P

Pierre Stan Roydonk

Viv Anderson
Re: Bird Feeding

sedgred said:
Always encouraged birds into the garden by feeding them, when we lived out amongst the sticks, the variety of birds we attracted were not as varied as we attract now whilst living on the edge of a town.

As we are moving right back to the sticks, it will be interesting to compare once more, when we get settled.
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I found I had more variety when we lived slap bang in the centre of Nottingham. We're out in the suburbs now and near woodland but we attract less of a variety. I think the problem is that the tall trees here attract nesting crows, magpies and Jays. They attack the nests and young of the smaller birds.

Although, the Magpies, Jays and Jackdaws are beautiful, I hate them in the garden.
 
F

frankwignall

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

Bastard Greeks keep shooting the fuckers for summat to do in the winter. Our cat can be a bit of a twat too. That's the thanks you get for rescuing the bugger.
 
Captain Sinister

Captain Sinister

Senior doom Monger
Re: Bird Feeding

We have a covered bird table.
I put bread on it.
The weimarnaer sits beneath it waiting for the jackdaws to toss her a crust.
We also have a hanging feeder as well.
So far we have had goldfinches, green finches, a family of long tailed tits, a couple of nuthatches, blue-tits and what I think is either a great tit or a coal tit - I think they look similar.
 
P

Pierre Stan Roydonk

Viv Anderson
Re: Bird Feeding

Captain Sinister said:
We have a covered bird table.
I put bread on it.
The weimarnaer sits beneath it waiting for the jackdaws to toss her a crust.
We also have a hanging feeder as well.
So far we have had goldfinches, green finches, a family of long tailed tits, a couple of nuthatches, blue-tits and what I think is either a great tit or a coal tit - I think they look similar.
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(Coal Tit) is smaller with a white tuft/stripe on its head. Much similar size to the long tailed tits. It's less brash than the rather larger great tit.

(Great Tit) They have bright yellow breasts with a thick dark band of black. I've noticed their breast have been paler lately, they are becoming more white in my area, much like the coal tit. I have had trouble distinguisheding between them too. The white stripe on the head of the coal tit is a good clue though.

I'm that sad that I can even distingquish the calls of some of the birds in the garden. The goldfinch has a lovely song.


Hand ShAndy! said:
I feed my bird like a horse.
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You put a feed bag over her head?
 
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L

lard

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

Pierre Stan Roydonk said:
I'd go through a list of species if you're interested Lard. It does help that I'm pretty near woodland and a local watercourses though.
Click to expand...

Yes please do.
Since using the sunflower hearts the Blue tits have been back ( only been using it a few days) A great tit visited in the summer but not seen it since.
 
P

Pierre Stan Roydonk

Viv Anderson
Re: Bird Feeding

lard said:
I am using this as my main seed , Its decent stuff and there is zero waste http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peckish-Com...TF8&qid=1423336488&sr=8-16&keywords=bird+seed
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That's what I'm feeding at the moment Lard. They seem to like it and yes there is no mess, it's pricey though. I often buy cheaper separate bags of seeds and create my own mixes. I'm a bit OCD that way.

I currently have a 12.5kg bag of Peckish Complete and a 20kg bag of hearts. I mix the two together and they go crazy for it. I've a 30 inch 6 port feeder and in the spring/summer the birds will completely empty it in one day.

I've a 2kg bag of niger for goldfinches. A couple of fat/seed cakes and a bag of black sunflower. In the spring I buy live small mealworms from the pet store and feed them to the Robins. Last spring/summer they fleged a brood of three and they all fed on the live mealworms. They also love dried mealworms.

In my years of feeding here I've had a few variety although as I've said earlier I had more variety in the city centre.



Seed feeders: Robins, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrow.

Table/Birdbath: Blackbird, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk (unwelcome but awesome) Jay, Green Woodpecker (he comes for the ants and acorns) Wren. Woodpidgeon (sits/shits in the birdbath for half hour) Dunnock. Redwing.

Peanuts: Greater Spotted Woodpecker (visits every day in the summer) Blue tits, Great tits, Long tailed tits (pink and white balls of fluff, I love em) I'd love Nuthatches like the captain gets visiting.

Non feeder/bird table visitors have included a pair of Bullfinch one Spring/Summer, Kestrel, Mouse. Last year we had a random wader/waterbird that I've still not identified.



I'm sure there's a lot more that I've either not seen or have forgotten. The Goldfinches are my favourite, as once seen and heard they are never forgotten.
 
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L

lard

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

Yeah the sparrowhawk was amazing if a little sad
 
L

lard

Guest
Re: Bird Feeding

Yep seen it do it twice now , My wife wanted to bang on the window to scare it off :lol:, Sadly it was too late.
 
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