Any keen bird feeders out there?

andygb

DSmiffy wrote: »

Hi Just jumping on this thread and thought someone may be able to tell me how to attract birds to my food table.
I have a table with three feeders hanging from it, peanuts, seed and fat balls and not a single visitor.
The feed keeps going moldy and I have to change it. Only visitor is a hopeful pigeon who hangs around the base all day
Any ideas?

That is unusual, particularly this time of year. Have you noticed many birds around your area, surrounding gardens for instance?

andygb

Here are a couple of starlings on top of the feeders

elaine241

Hello just spotted this thread. I feed the birds year round, costs a fortune but worth it! I get many species including nuthatches, gold finches, robins, blackbird, great, blue and coal t*ts, etc Also a gang of Jackdaws who nest in the chimneys at this time of year. Recently I have a male sparrow hawk who "visits", he sits on the wall and waits for a victim. Its amazing to see him so close and I suppose it is "nature".

REEN

I just bought a book (second hand from World of Books, they have more copies) called "The Secret Lives of Garden Birds" by Dominic Couzens. It has lots of fascinating insights into bird behaviour.

Happygreen

OH thinks he saw a pair of long-tailed tits yesterday, shame I missed them...

TravellingAbuela

An update on post 463 about the blackbird in our ivy! The nest must be finished as Mrs Blackbird is no longer flying in with beakfuls of moss, twigs etc. She spends a lot of time in there, just popping out to eat seeds etc that have dropped from the feeders. I long to peep in the nest whilst she is out to see if there are any eggs in there but don't want to alarm her if she is watching! So far the neighbourhood cats seem unaware she is nesting in there, unlike last year when we were shooing them off constantly!

REEN

Our Mrs Blackbird has been helping herself to the coir liner in my wall basket!

Happygreen

Mr. Pheasant has now introduced a new ladydriend to the food supply - and to me . She doesn't seem to be startled much by my presence. Maybe she will survive (the foxes nearby) and we'll get pheasant chicks!

ERICS_MUM

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

I was walking on the riverbank into town last week and saw a swan tugging at weeds and grassy stuff, he was at it at least an hour presumably building the nest for his family. Might have been the female, I can't tell the difference.

Update !

I walked past today and the swan was sitting on the completed nest, enormous, must have been a foot high and 4 feet wide. Does this mean there are already eggs in the nest ?

Happygreen

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

Update !

I walked past today and the swan was sitting on the completed nest, enormous, must have been a foot high and 4 feet wide. Does this mean there are already eggs in the nest ?

If there is a swan in it - yes! They are not likely to leave the nest with eggs in it. Don't get too close, swans are very protective of nest and babies - and their bite hurts a lot (my gran got bitten once). I meant to reply to your earlier post: the girl's bill is paler in colour and the boy normally has more impressive plumage.