Birdfeeders

[catherine nicol]

Saw this on for sale page just now, thought that I would copy it here just incase anyone interested and like me has never looked at for sale pages before.


Bird feeders
Wooden Bird nut & seed feeders from £2.00 - £9.00
Bird tables from £20 and nest boxes from £4.00
All handmade Tel:07960 127016 or 01955 621817

[catherine nicol]

Following on from above message, I wondered what type of food you put out in your feeders and what birds are visiting your feeders and/or tables just now.

I haven't seen any chaffinches so far this winter and only had one green finch in the garden this winter.

I was wondering if anyone else was having more success and if so what are you enticing these little birdies into the garden with.

I have all the usual peanut, seed, fat ball/fat block feeders. A raised bird table. A ground feeding tray.

I buy my seed and nuts in sack size bags from CLB, Thurso. Fat balls I buy in bulk elsewhere.

I received a present of RSPB bird food for xmas and am monitoring this to see if it is more popular than usual stock.

I was lucky this year and had my first black cap visit the garden for apples that I put out. I buy apples for the birds if they are greatly reduced in the supermarket.

Happy birding.

[Pterodroma]

Hi Catherine

I am suprised that you are not getting Chaffinches and Greenfinches.

I feed a seed mix directly on the ground plus a handful of suet pellets, black sunflower seeds in a hanging plastic tube feeder and apples for Blackbirds. Greenfinches are very fond of sunflower seeds and I am getting 50+ every day. Ground food is attracting 30+ Chaffinches, House Sparrows, Yellowhammers, Reed Bunting, Blackbirds, Dunnocks, Robin, Pheasant, Starling, Collared Dove, Hooded Crow. Blackbirds are also like raisons.

The general activity of smaller birds is attracting raptors and I have daily Sparrowhawk and Kestrel plus ocassional Merlin and Hen Harrier.

Have you tried different feeding sites? Ground feeders are sometimes cautious if they do not have a clear view of their surrounds so that they can see the approach of potential preditors.

I have not seen the CLB mix, but if it contains a high percentage of larger seeds this will not be palatable to Chaffinches, who prefer a smaller sized seed.

Good luck!