Feeding the Birds

Olliebeak

My OH has just come in with a bucket of fatballs from Wilkos - £7 for 50 balls .

balmaiden

Has anyone seen any unusual birds feeding in their gardens? We have a flock of redwings with us at the moment, We haven't seen any since 1987. I know they are not unusual in other parts of the country but they are to us.

We are having to feed many more birds than usual maybe because we haven't any snow. I am feeding them birdseed, peanuts, suet, breakfast cereal and I am afraid bread as well, even though I know that it is not very good for them, but I would have thought short term would be ok if it keeps them alive.

*zippy*

We had a flock of redwings today too, i've never seen one before and had to get the bird book out to identify them. I was quite surprised it said they were very common. One was digging in some leaves for ages, I called hubby to come and see and with that a whole flock flew into the tree :T

carriebradshaw

we get redwings and fieldfares in the garden every Winter, lovely to see them isn't it

Counting_Pennies_2

Thanks all.

We managed to dig the car out just after 4pm today, after several digging shifts during the day, so we popped out to get some coal and logs for the fire and got DH to drive to the DIY centre to get some bird nuts, seeds and half coconut shell fat hangers, do you think they will be ok to hang on the hanging basket hooks?

The sweetcorn and popcorn I put out earlier was just on top of the car on a flat cereal packet, do you think that will be ok overnight?

Also I have some porridge oats in the cupboard, shall I just sprinkle them on the lid of the wheelie bin? I don't really have much to put things on.

Thanks again

*zippy*

Do you have a tree you can hang things off? Saying that today I've found the sparrows seem to have preferred eating off the ground for some reason so i've just sprinked some seed under a tree they like.

Carrieb at first I could see the red and thought I had a HUGE mutant robin :rotfl:

dandy-candy

Don't forget cheese! My hub saw it on Naturewatch a year or so ago and always leaves a few crumbs out for the robins now - they will come up to the window sill for it. Besides the cheese I put out raisins, peanuts (monkey nuts), old crumbled bits of cake and biscuits too - along with packet wild bird seed of course!

conradmum

balmaiden wrote: »

Has anyone seen any unusual birds feeding in their gardens?

We've had pheasants in our garden - no proper woods for miles.

The blackbirds are very annoyed with them for hogging all the food. :rotfl:

jennyjelly

valk_scot wrote: »

seeds from the Halloween pumpkins or any squash or melons you may buy.

Can these be put out fresh and complete with the gooey stuff around them, or is it best to wash and dry them first?

We have 2 seed feeders and a fat ball cage and they have needed refilling every day since the snow started. We're also putting bits on the ground for the robins as that is where they prefer to feed, but we have to be very careful that the stuff on the ground is unpalatable to our very greedy hound or she will be even fatter than she is now!

redruby

*zippy* wrote: »

We had a flock of redwings today too, i've never seen one before and had to get the bird book out to identify them. I was quite surprised it said they were very common. One was digging in some leaves for ages, I called hubby to come and see and with that a whole flock flew into the tree :T

We have had redwings and a songthrush today, have not seen either of these before, as well all the usual visitors.

First job in the morning whilst waiting for the kettle to boil is feed the birds, and defrost the water, by the time ive walked back to the house, the garden is full of them, we also have 4 squirrels who came down for a drink today.

I have put most things out, including bread dipped in fat, nuts, seeds, raisins, breakfast cereal, porridge oats.

We are moving monday, and I hate to think of 'my' birds going hungry , will have to make new 'bird friends' in the new house.