Tempting the right Birds into the garden....

[Stuart70]

VGTICE said:

This works every time for me, better yet if you have a fat sausage to match fat balls. Birds love a good fat sausage.

As per the advice above, a good fat pecker well hung in the garden gives many birds a treat. There does seem to be some challenge in getting the right birds to choose your offerings....

[Japveesix]

If your fat balls are too well hidden in a bush the birds don't always go for them.

[Turn7]

Just to update this....

Having one of the best years Ive seen for birds in the garden.

Feeding Sunflower hearts, 75mm Suet logs and mixed ground feeds.

Just this morning, and these are all now regulars....

4 x Goldfinches
1 x Chaffinch
3 x Blackbird, one with a dickie davies white cap
3 x Woodpigeon
2 x Collared Dove
2 x Dunnock
3 x Robin
1 x Wren....altho not very often seen
6528 x Starlings, ALWAYS as at the same time
4 x Squirrels
? x Bluetits...to quick to differentiate between them
2 x Great Tits
1 x Coal Tit
1 x Hedge Sparrow

[mickyh7]

Turn7 said:

Just to update this....

Having one of the best years Ive seen for birds in the garden.

Feeding Sunflower hearts, 75mm Suet logs and mixed ground feeds.

Just this morning, and these are all now regulars....

4 x Goldfinches
1 x Chaffinch
3 x Blackbird, one with a dickie davies white cap
3 x Woodpigeon
2 x Collared Dove
2 x Dunnock
3 x Robin
1 x Wren....altho not very often seen
6528 x Starlings, ALWAYS as at the same time
4 x Squirrels
? x Bluetits...to quick to differentiate between them
2 x Great Tits
1 x Coal Tit
1 x Hedge Sparrow

Sorry, but you do know that a Hedge Sparrow is a Dunnock dont you?
Still, nice to have all in your Garden!
We are similar to you, but we have Greater Spotted Woodpeckers. Very aggressive, they chase everything off when they feed!
Always bring their young to feed when they fledge, so often have 7 of them at once!

[Turn7]

mickyh7 said:

Turn7 said:

Just to update this....

Having one of the best years Ive seen for birds in the garden.

Feeding Sunflower hearts, 75mm Suet logs and mixed ground feeds.

Just this morning, and these are all now regulars....

4 x Goldfinches
1 x Chaffinch
3 x Blackbird, one with a dickie davies white cap
3 x Woodpigeon
2 x Collared Dove
2 x Dunnock
3 x Robin
1 x Wren....altho not very often seen
6528 x Starlings, ALWAYS as at the same time
4 x Squirrels
? x Bluetits...to quick to differentiate between them
2 x Great Tits
1 x Coal Tit
1 x Hedge Sparrow

Sorry, but you do know that a Hedge Sparrow is a Dunnock dont you?
Still, nice to have all in your Garden!
We are similar to you, but we have Greater Spotted Woodpeckers. Very aggressive, they chase everything off when they feed!
Always bring their young to feed when they fledge, so often have 7 of them at once!

My mistake, always get confused with the small brown birds, it was a House Sparrow...

[Japveesix]

Turn7 said:

Just to update this....

Having one of the best years Ive seen for birds in the garden.

Feeding Sunflower hearts, 75mm Suet logs and mixed ground feeds.

Just this morning, and these are all now regulars....

4 x Goldfinches
1 x Chaffinch
3 x Blackbird, one with a dickie davies white cap
3 x Woodpigeon
2 x Collared Dove
2 x Dunnock
3 x Robin
1 x Wren....altho not very often seen
6528 x Starlings, ALWAYS as at the same time
4 x Squirrels
? x Bluetits...to quick to differentiate between them
2 x Great Tits
1 x Coal Tit
1 x Hedge Sparrow

Nice to see you've got a bit more diversity now, very similar bird mix to our garden.

We've also improved ours since I last posted in this thread with a more mature garden, bird baths front and back, another pond, more log piles etc all helping but also changing the feeders a bit.

We now have quite a number of different little feeding points that cater for different things. We get regular great, blue and coal tits and they have their own peanut box on a tree and the sparrows just don't use it.

Also regularly feed on the lawn which attracts hundreds of starlings, a small feral pigeon flock my baby loves watching and also various other ground feeders. Nyger seed got used for the first time ever as we've had regular goldfinch and siskin this year, plus very occasional greenfinch (not on the nyger).

Woodpeckers have visited a bit but not regular yet. Long tailed tits pass through often and mostly go on the fatballs.

I think I counted young from about 15 different species in the garden this year, which is way above what we'd normally see or expect.

I feed mainly sunflower hearts, peanuts and fatballs. Sometimes put mealworms out for the Robin etc, often put old apples out for the blackbirds. Also use the suet block out infront of our kitchen window in the front garden and that seems to attract all sorts.

Black cap has just returned today which is always cool.

Hoping in another 3 years the garden will be even better and perhaps we'll have some other new regulars.

[Turn7]

We had a Blackcap for a few visits in the Summer, but thats all.

Same with Long Tails - had a flock of 5 for a couple of visits last Winter and seen them since...

I do enjoy just watching them, the Starlings are funny, like a gang of pissed up teens.....

The Goldies dont care whats going around them, they get on the feeder and dont leave till theyve had their fill.....

Squirrels I could almost handfeed I reckon, they dont leave the garden when we go out the back door to the bin....

[rxe]

Mrs rxe is the bird person in the house and has taken it very seriously after seeing some farming programme where they were putting tonnes (literally, tonnes) of food out, and it all went.

We get through about 25 kilos of bird seed a week. I’m amazed the sodding birds can fly, It’s all in vertical feeders - pigeons don’t get much of a look in - but they do clear up the dropped seed. Squirrels get shot. I know we have Wagtails, woodpeckers (spotted snd green), we have billions of tits, robins and goldfinches. We also have predators - magpies, rooks, buzzards, sparrow hawks - but these are (to me at least) a sign that the small birds are plentiful. We don’t have sparrows or swifts, those remain the key objectives for the boss.

IMO it’s all about consistency of feeding - it’s taken us a few years to get like this. I was amazed that we put up 12 nest boxes around the garden last year, and every single one was used. 12 more going up this year!

[mickyh7]

rxe said:

Mrs rxe is the bird person in the house and has taken it very seriously after seeing some farming programme where they were putting tonnes (literally, tonnes) of food out, and it all went.

We get through about 25 kilos of bird seed a week. I’m amazed the sodding birds can fly, It’s all in vertical feeders - pigeons don’t get much of a look in - but they do clear up the dropped seed. Squirrels get shot. I know we have Wagtails, woodpeckers (spotted snd green), we have billions of tits, robins and goldfinches. We also have predators - magpies, rooks, buzzards, sparrow hawks - but these are (to me at least) a sign that the small birds are plentiful. We don’t have sparrows or swifts, those remain the key objectives for the boss.

IMO it’s all about consistency of feeding - it’s taken us a few years to get like this. I was amazed that we put up 12 nest boxes around the garden last year, and every single one was used. 12 more going up this year!

She will struggle with Swifts.
They feed 100% on the wing, mainly on small spiders blowing around!
They even sleep whilst flying beautiful brown birds.
I love watching them.
They will nest in your roof, if they can get in.

[rxe]

mickyh7 said:

She will struggle with Swifts.
They feed 100% on the wing, mainly on small spiders blowing around!
They even sleep whilst flying beautiful brown birds.
I love watching them.
They will nest in your roof, if they can get in.

She's trying. We have Swift boxes up, and play nesting calls in the spring. They're about 5 miles away, she's reeling them in....

[silentbrown]

rxe said:

She's trying. We have Swift boxes up, and play nesting calls in the spring. They're about 5 miles away, she's reeling them in....

https://twitter.com/JonathanMPomroy/status/1333054323757084672

... And if you're short of a christmas present for her: https://www.mascotmedia.co.uk/books/on-crescent-wi...

[rxe]

silentbrown said:

https://twitter.com/JonathanMPomroy/status/1333054...

... And if you're short of a christmas present for her: https://www.mascotmedia.co.uk/books/on-crescent-wi...

Thanks!

It's particularly grating that they are are all over the sodding Premier Inn in Maidenhead! We're offering much better accommodation, but they haven't found it..

[BoggoStump]

Fantastic update.

[BoggoStump]

rxe said:

Mrs rxe is the bird person in the house and has taken it very seriously after seeing some farming programme where they were putting tonnes (literally, tonnes) of food out, and it all went.

We get through about 25 kilos of bird seed a week. I’m amazed the sodding birds can fly, It’s all in vertical feeders - pigeons don’t get much of a look in - but they do clear up the dropped seed. Squirrels get shot. I know we have Wagtails, woodpeckers (spotted snd green), we have billions of tits, robins and goldfinches. We also have predators - magpies, rooks, buzzards, sparrow hawks - but these are (to me at least) a sign that the small birds are plentiful. We don’t have sparrows or swifts, those remain the key objectives for the boss.

IMO it’s all about consistency of feeding - it’s taken us a few years to get like this. I was amazed that we put up 12 nest boxes around the garden last year, and every single one was used. 12 more going up this year!

Stop shooting squirrels, their part of nature too. (oh no these a grey must shot them ffs)

[mickyh7]

BoggoStump said:

Stop shooting squirrels, their part of nature too. (oh no these a grey must shot them ffs)

They are part of Nature.
American Nature.
They shouldn't be here.
Decimating birds eggs and chicks where I live.
And pushing the Reds out with Bullying and Disease.
I've shot hundreds over the years but they breed like Rats!