Who else has put the feeders out

[Smint]

The weather is changing so put the feeders out 3 or 4 days ago, fat balls peanuts and sunflower seeds, made an error in one feeder so will have to wait till that one runs down before putting the mixed seeds in it and sunflower in the 4th, that one's squirrel proof and has a base which catches the easy flowing small seeds so they don't just drop on the ground.

Blue tits were the first as always, a small number never leave because our outside cameras are home to spiders and we get treated to regular close ups of the tits spider hunting and fluttering under the eaves for any escapees, they've also started poke nosing in the 2 bird houses which they probably used earlier in the year for breeding, couple of spiders were web making in front of 2 of the cameras last night, big mistake.

[Simpo Two]

I didn't think the weather was that cold but smelled woodsmoke outside this morning - someone must have their stove going!

[budgie smuggler]

I haven't yet because of that disease, probably start towards the end of Oct.

[Smint]

Yes its fairly early but i want the birds to get used to where the feeders are before the cold snap arrives as it tends to all of a sudden.
As expected the squirrel found them pronto, gives the dogs something to keep an eye out for and chase.

[rossub]

Never took them away.

I know why they did it, but the RSPB saying not to feed at all from May to Sept was overdone in my opinion if you’re the type to keep watch on them. I also rotate them daily, as I’ve got 2 sets.

I go through 20kg of sunflower hearts a month, which will have helped raise an enormous amount of youngsters. In all that time, I saw 1 sick Greenfinch. Took the feeders down and found it dead the next day…. been no further sick bird sightings since.

[127Sport]

budgie smuggler said:

I haven't yet because of that disease, probably start towards the end of Oct.

Could you elaborate?

Username checks out, by the way.

I've suddenly noticed a flock of green parakeets around my house every evening for the past few weeks now. This is new to my area (Oxfordshire). Does anyone know if they go for bird feeders?

[Smint]

rossub said:

Never took them away.

I know why they did it, but the RSPB saying not to feed at all from May to Sept was overdone in my opinion if you re the type to keep watch on them. I also rotate them daily, as I ve got 2 sets.

I go through 20kg of sunflower hearts a month, which will have helped raise an enormous amount of youngsters. In all that time, I saw 1 sick Greenfinch. Took the feeders down and found it dead the next day . been no further sick bird sightings since.

We kept feeding all through one year but seemed to be overstocked with birds, where in my very lay view they need to feed naturally as spring blossoms with the youngsters finding their own patches as summer comes, i'm probably completely wrong here as usual but that's how it feels to us.

Confess there's much pleasure to be had from hundreds of birds nipping in for a nosh up when the weather is bitterly cold, we love it when the sparrows come in numbers as they do their excited chirruping is music to the shell likes, from our dining table we can watch the antics through the window, tall hedges all around the garden and a decent spinney at the bottom of the garden, stream flows through the spinney so no issues with water all year round, thogh we do provide a bird bath too.

I don't mind the few squirrels getting a share from the peanuts and seeds they can filch,we were hoping for some cob nuts ourselves off out tree, but said squirrel had every single one away, we usually manage to find a handful he's missed but not this year maybe he reckons this winter is going to be hard.

[rossub]

That’s something I don’t do - bird baths.

Unless you’re willing to constantly refresh the water and clean them, they’re even worse than feeders for spreading disease.

Luckily there’s a pond and stream nearby though.

[danb79]

Ours have been out a few weeks now - I’ve popped a large old planter tray in the wooded area I’ve cleared at the bottom of the garden, on top of a tree stump, and the birds/squirrels love the peanuts and mealworms I pop in there

The seed feeders are all very busy on the fruit trees and in the hawthorn hedge; same with the fat ball feeders

Early hours in the morning is best; 5am onwards - they’re all very busy and lots of squabbling and chirping

[budgie smuggler]

127Sport said:

budgie smuggler said:

I haven't yet because of that disease, probably start towards the end of Oct.

Could you elaborate?

Username checks out, by the way.

I've suddenly noticed a flock of green parakeets around my house every evening for the past few weeks now. This is new to my area (Oxfordshire). Does anyone know if they go for bird feeders?

There is some disease that can be spread from bird to bird via feeders, so the RSPB were advising people not to have them out over the summer.

Looks like they've updated the advice, see "Feed safely" on this link

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/how-t...

[Smint]

Well the feeding is going well, we always have resident bluetits and robins they were going great guns, also spotted a really tiny bird probably half the size of the bluetits nipping in and out.

Saw the squirrel a few times which gave the oldest of our two Golden Retriever pups great fun chasing him off.
However something looked quite odd on the feeding frame, not only has the squirrel undone the peanut feeder from its lid he's nicked the whole feeder itself presumably using it as a swag carrier instead of making several trips, it wasn't easy to undo from its lid so he must have been swinging from it for some time.

Steel squirrel proof replacement on the way so thats it matey for now, see how long it takes him to dismantle this one.

[mcelliott]

Put ours out last week, didn't take before the long tailed tits came in, now we are having goldfinches and blue tits.

[nordboy]

I binned all my old rusty feeders when we moved last year and I haven't replaced them. Need to get around to it really. BUT, we have woods and streams now on 3 sides of the back garden and loads of grey squirrels who will undoubtedly nick all the food? And while the wife thinks they're 'cute', I see them as vermin with fluffy tails.

I had mice in the garage as well last year which i caught in humane traps and let go miles from the house, and because of the woods and streams I'm 99% sure we have some rats as well. So storage of the bird food will need to be thought about as well.

Also have crap loads of birds as well because of the woods so want to help them out a bit this year. Probably end up getting quite expensive to start it all up again though?

[Digga]

Yes, squirrels are tricky to manage. We got a week or so of just birds before they found the seed feeder. Greedy little bds are out in huge numbers this year.

The fat ball feeder tube thingy is good, because it is properly squirrel proof.

[127Sport]

Got a blooming magpie hanging off my fat balls already. I don't mind them getting feed in the springtime as it might cut down their need to eat other birds' eggs and young, but I really don't want them on the stuff I put out for the little chaps this time of year.

[Mr Pointy]

I've found that these cage style feeders work well at keeping squirrels & bigger birds out - I was having a pigeon problem. Just make sure the lid is firmly fixed after topping up:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DJH1G17F
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=squirrel+proof+bird+f...

[Zetec-S]

When we moved into our place 18 months ago we inherited a garden which the previous owners had pretty much gone scorched earth on, bar some straggly shrubs and an overgrown new zealand cabbage which the pigeons sat in and shat on the patio. We've ripped those all out and started afresh, a few bird friendly shrubs and plants, and a couple of small trees which won't get too big but will give a bit of height to hopefully attract the birds.

At the moment we get a couple of blackbirds and a robin every morning, so chuck some mealworms down for them. We have a bird feeder with some suet balls but doesn't seem to be bringing anything else in, hopefully once the garden gets more established we'll see more variety.

[rossub]

Mr Pointy said:

I've found that these cage style feeders work well at keeping squirrels & bigger birds out - I was having a pigeon problem. Just make sure the lid is firmly fixed after topping up:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DJH1G17F
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=squirrel+proof+bird+f...

Those aren’t cage feeders - this is a cage feeder…




Developed after many years of fending off crows, magpies, pigeons, pheasants and sparrow hawks. Now none of those get in.

Thankfully there have never been grey squirrels here.

[knotweed]

We put ours out last weekend. There isn't much for birds in our garden at the moment, when we moved in in June it was 100% lawn, so we've cut some borders and we'll get some cover for birds established next year. there are a few trees over the fence and there's been robins and blue tits in and out of those so we're hoping they'll visit us soon. We get plenty of magpies, woodpigeons, blackbirds and the occasional jackdaw and it would be nice to get a few of the smaller birds too. We had our first frost this morning.