Feeding Birds

[jonnybeegood]

As a bird lover i thought i would ask people to remember our feathered friends in this awful weather we are having. I think now is the most important time to feed wild birds apart from the obvious icy snowy days. This time of year a lot of seed forage & insects are becoming scarce. Not much is growing yet so birds struggle to find enough food. They also need to be in top condition for the coming breeding season. Please spare any money you can & buy peanuts, seeds, mealworms, even make your own fat balls (cue jokes) every little helps

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have suet candles/mixed seed/sunflower hearts/ niger and peanuts out. We have a huge variety of birds visiting as a result. The kites get day old chicks when they are rearing their brood and there will be mealworms when the smaller birds have nestlings.

 

[madasafish]

Bird feeders, nuts/seed every day..

We are doing our best to fatten up woodpigeons and pheasants plus the odd collared dove - in addition to the normal garden birds.

The odd fox/badger sweeps up at night...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They're fed throughout the year with me - but take especial attention to the feeders in the winter - the sparrows are always hanging about first thing in the morning when I leave the chickens out as they get a couple of handfuls of grain and the spuggies help themselves to that as well.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They're fed throughout the year with me - but take especial attention to the feeders in the winter - the sparrows are always hanging about first thing in the morning when I leave the chickens out as they get a couple of handfuls of grain and the spuggies help themselves to that as well. Noticed the long tailed tits were back in the garden yesterday as well (they do the rounds of all the gardens in this little corner of the valley

 

[jonnybeegood]

I have suet candles/mixed seed/sunflower hearts/ niger and peanuts out. We have a huge variety of birds visiting as a result. The kites get day old chicks when they are rearing their brood and there will be mealworms when the smaller birds have nestlings.

Fantastic! If only everyone could do that
We are very similar apart from the kites though i do feed the buzzards quite often. We get so many species in our garden but this last couple of weeks i am constantly filling feeders, likely not a lot around for them at the minute.
A good tip is rather than throw out fat from cooking sausages or sunday roasts , pour it into a yoghurt tub & when cold set put it out for the birds, either hanging on string or sat on a bird table so more species can access it.

 

[BeeJayBee]

They're fed throughout the year with me - but take especial attention to the feeders in the winter .... Noticed the long tailed tits were back in the garden yesterday as well (they do the rounds of all the gardens in this little corner of the valley

Same here.

The only time we stopped feeding them was when rats arrived the year before last. They were probably escaping flooding. They, err, went away of their own accord, and we discouraged others by getting some large plastic squirrel-proof trays to put beneath the feeders so scraps from the fat balls don't fall to the ground.

 

[MikeT]

We have feeders out all year round, fat balls peanuts and a seed feeders. Get mainly tits, great, blue and coal plus robins, dunnocks, finches (chaffinch gold finch and green finch) and occasionally lesser spotted woodpecker. Any spillage is eaten by the pea fowl. I also have a nest box with camera in, last year it was occupied by great tits and the previous year blue tits.

 

[Heather]

3 feeding units and just had last lot of food delivered by road, as too big a quantity for me to carry home from a supplier. I buy online. Eating me out of house and home.

 

[pargyle]

The birds eat better than I do here - get fed first thing in the morning .. usual wild bird mix and fatballs plus any leftover bread liquidised down to small crumbs. We get a huge mix of small birds, tits of all types, yellow hammers, blackbirds, robins, wrens, dunnocks, thrushes with resident rooks, wood pigeons and collared doves all taking a turn - not to mention the squirrels ! The two birds we don't see (and coming from 'Up North' I expect to see in urban gardens) are sparrows and starlings. We even had a (confused ?) racing pigeon with us for a couple of weeks in Autumn ... then it went on its way ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Same here.

The only time we stopped feeding them was when rats arrived the year before last.

Don't seem to have an issue with rats - or with squirrels come to that

 

[jonnybeegood]

We feed all year too, its funny how there are spells when the garden is awash with birds & others its quiet for days. Its nice when we get migrant blackbirds coming in to feed on the windfall apples in oct/nov sometimes a dozen males at a time & no fights, unlike spring when the resident male seems to spend most of his time fighting off rivals. None of our fruits get bothered by birds because we feed them all year, they never bother blossom, young peas, currants, raspberries, they must be spoiled

 

[Arfermo]

Have over 3 acres of woodland at rear of my place with an intervening stream 20 yds from the kitchen window. Feed the birds with everything I know and was thrilled 2 days ago to see for the first time a white throated dipper and a grey wagtail hopping about the stream. Not seen the kingfisher lately but comes regularly along plus several varieties of tits, jays, pigeons, magpies, not forgetting the common buzzard back in November that hung around for about a week. getting interested in cooking now!!!

 

[Wonderbloke]

I figure that if I keep all the wild animals on my property well fed (especially the woodpeckers) then they are less likely to focus on my hives.. I also leave most of my old silver birch trunks rather than cutting for firewood because as they naturally rot down, the woodpeckers have a field day.. We even get nightingales in the summer... What a lovely racket!!

 

[theeggman]

We feed p/nuts and seed but we're too tight to buy fat balls so we purchase from the butcher, yes they are still around, lumps of suet for very little money, put it into a cage made of 10mm weldmesh and the woodies and assorted tits love it.

We did have a fox attempt to gain entry to it one night but it soon gave up

 

[jonnybeegood]

We feed p/nuts and seed but we're too tight to buy fat balls so we purchase from the butcher, yes they are still around, lumps of suet for very little money, put it into a cage made of 10mm weldmesh and the woodies and assorted tits love it.

We did have a fox attempt to gain entry to it one night but it soon gave up

its easy to make fatballs or cakes, just a few blocks of lard melted with a load of blitzed peanuts, mix & pour into a cling film lined dish in the fridge to set. you can add sunflower hearts, dried fruit, mealworms, whatever you like really, they will love them whatever is in them, just don't hang the ones up you buy in little nets, birds can get feet & legs trapped in them, take them out, shove a bit of wire through the middle, tie a stick to one end & hang them up.

 

[madasafish]

We had a spell 15 years ago when all our wire seed trays were disappearing. One night we found the culprit: a large badger.

Hanging them 2-4 meters off the ground solved that issue..

 

[Erichalfbee]

I also leave most of my old silver birch trunks rather than cutting for firewood because as they naturally rot down

Makes good smoker fuel when dry too.

 

[enrico]

We have a food chain here. We feed the small birds who in turn feed the merlin! Every now and again it takes a bird as it swoops down the narrow section between the house and the table, sometimes it gets lucky and hits the bird like a bullet! And no......it isn't a sparrow hawk!
We buy bulk bags of food on line, even with delivery it is cheaper than bulk bags locally!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

One night we found the culprit: a large badger.

Hanging them 2-4 meters off the ground solved that issue..

And people have the temerity to have a go at fox hunters! - you do realise that badgers are now (rightly or wrongly) protected by law?