My Garden

Bird feeding

Last post 01-01-2009 3:28 PM by Clematis. 67 replies.

• 07/11/2008 05:33 PM
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  I grew teazles this year, in the hope of attracting gold finches. It worked! (They also like the verbena bonariensis.) Which plants or bought feed are attracting birds to your garden? Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 07/11/2008 05:51 PM

  In reply to

  miranda Location: Oxfordshire Joined on: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 2,976

  Reply | Contact Good for you, Phot's. How nice to see the birds coming for the supplies you've grown for them! I noticed that sunflowers and Eryngiums attract tits - especially coaltits, who take one seed and eat it and then plant the next one, usually somewhere totally inappropriate like the edge of the lawn. Other than that, a mixed 'no-mess' feed attracts everyone and the tits and finches like fatballs. Sue's got a recipe for those.  In spring we like to put out live mealworms. We actually buy them for the robins but once the blackbirds and starlings notice they're there, they don't last long. We tried dried worms, but they turned their beaks up at them, even when they were soaked.   Oh yes, one more thing - if you turn out any pots in spring and find vineweevil grubs, put them in a dish for the robins and they'll be gone within minutes of being noticed.

• 07/11/2008 06:46 PM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact  I haven't noticed any birds on the Verbena bonariensis here but we did get loads of bees on them until the weather got colder. The bluetits here prefer the seed mix feeders to the fatballs, they also like picking over the shrubs for insects. I haven't tried the live mealworms, the birds here can't be too fussy as they all eat the dried ones. The fat ball recipe is melted lard with wild bird seed and porridge oats mixed in until the mixture is stiff, then I dollop big spoonfuls into the centre of a piece of cling film, and squeeze it into a ball shape whilst twisting the film together at the top.  I sometimes also add raisins or sultanas (whatever is handy) or peanuts which have been blitzed for a few seconds.  The fat balls that went really quickly had out-of-date weetabix mixed in too. sue1002

• 07/11/2008 06:46 PM

  In reply to

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104

  Reply | Contact Phot's I buy a 'mixed seed' from RSPB - we get green and goldfinches, all manner of tits ( and both the number/variety is fabulous), and yes despite everyone saying they don't mix, we always get at least three robins in our garden at any one time! Woodpeckers, wrens, nuthatches, ducks-as per my recent mails, two white collared doves, pied wagtails, sparrows, one particular heron who knows he can't get into our pond - too deep for him! The besest of all was the kingfisher we saw last year for the first (and only time) I hasten to add. We also get a lot of BATS!!!!

• 07/11/2008 06:49 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104	Reply | Contact Sorry Sue1002 our posts crossed!

• 07/11/2008 06:53 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact No need to apologise Susiq You get a lot more birds up north than we do here, perhaps it's because we are in a big town and you have big fields next door? sue1002

• 07/11/2008 07:02 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104	Reply | Contact I guess so - but I must admit - we get NO starlings and very few sparrows, so there must be something in that (i.e. their habitats) that relate to that???

• 07/11/2008 07:06 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact It could be, we are on a big housing estate so lots of house roofs around for the sparrows to nest in.  We get starlings all year round but the numbers are much less in the summer - they're probably off feeding on the crops in the farmland on the outskirts of town. sue1002

• 07/11/2008 07:37 PM	In reply to
  mini stroni Location: Joined on: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 93	Reply | Contact i saw on blue peter once that you can put peanut butter into the cavities in a large fir cone then hang it on the tree. the birds cling on to the cone as they peck at the peanut butter. i guess you could also smear the fat ball recipe into the cones too. they look more natural hanging on trees than fat balls, though you'd probably have to refill them more often.

• 07/11/2008 08:58 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact I hadn't thought about using peanut butter mini stroni but it does make sense, it could even be added in with the fatball mixture.  I hang the fat balls in feeders and put three in each of two feeders and the whole lot is eaten within a couple of hours. sue1002

• 07/11/2008 09:51 PM	In reply to
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043	Reply | Contact Starlings scoff the berries from my four Irish yews and then excrete the remnants that are brightly coloured and full of seeds from my satellite dish cunningly sited above my car.   Boggy Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 07/11/2008 10:48 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact When the coconut shells are empty, I plan on refilling them with Sue's magic mix. Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 08/11/2008 12:40 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104	Reply | Contact Ooops Boggy, that does not bode well for the paintwork! Unless you like that look of course

• 08/11/2008 02:11 PM	In reply to
  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200	Reply | Contact We don't have that problem with cable sue1002

• 08/11/2008 02:42 PM	In reply to
  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1,104	Reply | Contact Ha ha ha - excellent response Sue1002 - maybe's the 21st century hasn't reached Boggy's location - speaking of which - what part of the country does Boggy actually inhabit - Boggy???