Feeding garden birds - Spring 2017 onwards

Upsidedown_Bear

cally6008 wrote: »

Are any shops selling the big 150 fat ball boxes yet ?

I saw some in Poundstretcher last month. Haven't been in recently so I don't know if they still have them.

I'm also told Costco have them should you (or someone you know) be a member.

Upsidedown_Bear

At the moment the most popular thing in our garden is the apples and pears we're putting out for the blackbirds.
We have 2 baby blackbirds who spend most of their time in the garden eating them

We do have a jackdaw that likes them too although the other jackdaws don't bother.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I keep on finding whole peanuts in their shells in my pots. I've never bought the things myself.

Wondering whether I should be blaming a bird (Magpie? Crows? We don't get Jays here) or a squirrel? And whoever is guilty of this is probably responsible for my garlic cloves being upended regularly from their nice, safe beds underground.

[narrows eyes at the people over the wall who have several bird tables].

Chris25

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I keep on finding whole peanuts in their shells in my pots. I've never bought the things myself.

.

I took my car in for a service & along a ridge under the bonnet was a line of hazlenut shells We do have a hazel tree & I assume mice (or maybe the squirrels) have been depositing them there.

:j I saw the green woodpecker this morning, haven't seen him for months - am v happy, he hasn't deserted me :T

dannie

Is anybody still feeding the garden birds?

Could you tell me whether it is recommended to feed them oats? Somebody has given me some to feed them.

Thanks.

gamston

i'm feeding my birds sunflower hearts, costs a lot, but they do eat it all.
I tried different wild bird food mixes and found they left most of the seeds on the floor
on my 3 load of 60kilos of sun flower hearts, as well as bread and fat balls etc,

theonlywayisup

Sunflower hearts, fat balls, suet and grated cheese being fed here, along with niger for the ever-growing population of Goldies.

Everyone loves the cheese - starlings, blackbirds, nuthatch, sparrows, woodpecker, dunnock, great/cole/blue and marsh tits, and robin.

Regarding oats - this is from RSPB

Porridge oats must never be cooked, since this makes them glutinous and could harden around a bird's beak. Uncooked porridge oats are readily taken by a number of bird species.

dannie

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, it seems costly in time and money but nice to see them all. Blackbird, robin, wren, magpie, wood pigeon, sparrows and starlings came yesterday.

When I checked various websites, there were varying opinions about oats. I'll opt for the RSPB viewpoint.

Thanks.

Misslayed

We feed sunflower hearts all year round, worth the investment for the joy of watching our charm of goldfinches, bullfinch, greenfinches, chaffinches, blue, great and long tailed tits, Robin, wrens, blackbirds, starlings and reed buntings who visit every day. We have to fill the feeders almost daily! We buy them in 25kg sacks from a local animal food wholesalers, the price varies between £26/£29.

Gers

I'm puting out:

peanuts
sunflower hearts
whole peanuts (in shells)
pieces of lard
apple
soaked raisins
grated cheese
whole hazelnuts for the red squirrel

Sometimes I put out niger seeds.

Because it rains here so much I''m not putting out oats as they will be soaked before being eaten.

The woodpecker comes in every day, very skittish and flies off at the slightest movement at the window. The blue tits are much more blase, they can see me at the kitchen sink and more or less ignore me. I've got two IP cameras set up so I can see them from the laptop more easily.