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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Very busy at the bird feeder today! (3 Viewers)

Bananafishbones said:
Ah you see... its all happening.
Watching the garden can be very rewarding and it is litteraly birdwatching so you can get to study their behaviours.

The Blackbirds prefere to search for worms, snails and bugs, so they forage in bark and leaf litter etc.

For the extra rewards in the garden I would advise getting a small nyger seed feeder... guaranteed Goldfinch

Enjoy :t:
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Iv found myself going to the back windows to see if anything is there often lately. Looking in the distance over my back fence Im seeing more birds in other back gardens, Iv yet to see one on my feeders. Thanks for the advice about the nyger seed, Ill get some when I can.
 
I used to get a Male Blackbird every morning regular as Clockwork, Now no more, hope he's ok, To busy with the ladies hopefully.
 
colin mm said:
Strangely they didnt go near the feeders? I wonder if anyone knows why?
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I suspect that your feeders are too exposed so the birds feel too vulnerable whilst feeding. The problem as we all know is birds, like men, cannot do two things well at the same time :-O


If you post a picture of the whole of your garden showing the feed station
I'm sure some knowledgable folk on here will be able to make some helpful suggestions.

We have all our feeders under some lilac trees where the birds land initially. Bluetits Great tits Chaffinches Robins and many others will grab a beakful of food and fly back to the safety of the adjacent tree or bush to eat it and clean their beaks.

Greenfinches, Siskins, Goldfinches, Blackcaps etc tend to stay on the feeders and eat for up to 10 minutes or more per session so their feeders need to be ultra protected for them to feed.

Our Chaffinch house Sparrows, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Robin, Wren and others are predominantly ground feeders so we put their food on the ground but again under the trees so it offers them some protection from sprawks. I saw a Sparrowhawk take a bird from an apple tree last week in a flash it grabbed the bird and reversed direction 180 degrees and sped off our of sight in less than 1 second !
 
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Just had the first Linnett a female on teh ground under my feeders,though it looked like it wes busy feeding on weeds rather than the seed.
 
earleybird said:
I suspect that your feeders are too exposed so the birds feel too vulnerable whilst feeding. The problem as we all know is birds, like men, cannot do two things well at the same time :-O


If you post a picture of the whole of your garden showing the feed station
I'm sure some knowledgable folk on here will be able to make some helpful suggestions.

We have all our feeders under some lilac trees where the birds land initially. Bluetits Great tits Chaffinches Robins and many others will grab a beakful of food and fly back to the safety of the adjacent tree or bush to eat it and clean their beaks.

Greenfinches, Siskins, Goldfinches, Blackcaps etc tend to stay on the feeders and eat for up to 10 minutes or more per session so their feeders need to be ultra protected for them to feed.

Our Chaffinch house Sparrows, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Robin, Wren and others are predominantly ground feeders so we put their food on the ground but again under the trees so it offers them some protection from sprawks. I saw a Sparrowhawk take a bird from an apple tree last week in a flash it grabbed the bird and reversed direction 180 degrees and sped off our of sight in less than 1 second !
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I think your right here, I dont have anything other than a couple of small wilmer gold trees in pots about three feet in height including the pots. My back garden is pretty bare too. Looks like Ill have to get something growing with the birds in mind. Thanks for the advice.
 
apart from seeing a sparrowhawk swiftly take a blackbird from the bottom of the garden,not much happening,flew off with it and that is that,very deadly in there attacks.
 
colin mm said:
I think your right here, I dont have anything other than a couple of small wilmer gold trees in pots about three feet in height including the pots. My back garden is pretty bare too. Looks like Ill have to get something growing with the birds in mind. Thanks for the advice.
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A little tip that may be helpful that someone suggested to me.
If you find a large branch off of a dead tree and 'plant' that next to the feeders you could grow some ivy up it pretty quickly whilst your planted bushes and trees get established.

Anything would serve as cover. Another useful idea is to put up a natural reed screen to protect the feeding area. my B&Q sell 8 feet high panels which look nice and natural when you grow some sweetpeas, ivy and clematis etc up the screen. Arched trellis can look attractive too and it wouldn't take long to grow some climbers around that like wisteria etc
 
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briH said:
First post so thought I would share my excitement by the arrival of LTTs (2) on my feeder
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This must of been a one off visit, nothing for over a month apart from a pair of GT and a pair of BT. Not a finch in sight, not even in the garden, where do they go to ???
BTs have been putting nesting material into the sparrow box but apart from that nothing. Found a mouse in the feeder, would upload a pic if I knew how.
 
briH said:
This must of been a one off visit, nothing for over a month apart from a pair of GT and a pair of BT. Not a finch in sight, not even in the garden, where do they go to ???
BTs have been putting nesting material into the sparrow box but apart from that nothing. Found a mouse in the feeder, would upload a pic if I knew how.
Click to expand...

We have found that consistancy is the key. As long as there is always suet blocks or balls available the LTT's will keep coming back. The trouble is that if there is only one block and the Starlings monopolise it ,their aggression tends to keep away the smaller birds so we always have a suet block and a fat ball hanger too.

We now also have a GS Woodpecker come daily to the suet which is always kept topped up

I can recommend the Chapelwood Niger seed feeder for your Finches. Several of us on here bought them on bfb's recommendation and we have all had instant sucess. We hadn't seen a single goldfinch ,Siskin , or greenfinch in our garden for over 6 years previously.
Also grab a Chappelwood Sunflower Heart feeder at the same time and I'm sure you'll have the finches within a couple of weeks. Good luck

The niger feeders are on offer at the mo at Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chapelwood-Black-Ultimate-Feeder-Pearch/dp/B003ZUXM52/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1302335410&sr=8-3-spell
Heart feeder
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chapelwood-Heavy-Sunflower-Heart-Feeder/dp/B002S4LXFM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302335482&sr=1-1
 
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briH said:
BTs have been putting nesting material into the sparrow box but apart from that nothing. Found a mouse in the feeder, would upload a pic if I knew how.
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If you select the 'Advanced' tab at the bottom of the message window you can 'browse' your hard drive for the image you want to post. Make sure it is not too big so check if it needs cropping and reducing first (you can use Google etc) then select upload and the image will be added to your post. simples!:t:
 
Thanks for the info; I have three of these feeders plus one with fat ball only. I bought this feeder from the local garden centre, have now moved it out of reach from the sage plant so that mice are kept at bay. We are surrounded by cats so I don’t understand why we suddenly have mice; I think it’s the mess from the feeders.
Also the guy down the back keeps chickens and ducks so they must come up from there.
mouse-feeder.jpg
 
briH said:
Thanks for the info; I have three of these feeders plus one with fat ball only. I bought this feeder from the local garden centre, have now moved it out of reach from the sage plant so that mice are kept at bay. We are surrounded by cats so I don’t understand why we suddenly have mice; I think it’s the mess from the feeders.
Also the guy down the back keeps chickens and ducks so they must come up from there.
View attachment 317408
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ahhhhhhhhh sweeeeeeet;)
We have a houseful of cats but they are lazy barstewards. Its the Doberman that catches all the rats and kills them.
The cats bring the mice in live and my bedroom is alive with them.
Last month a mouse chewed a huge hole in my best 501's and used the denim to make a nest in my cycling shoe which was also chewed Grrrrr:C

A steady supply of seed dropped from seeders together with chicken feed will attract rats and mice its inevitable.
 
pied fly

Quote:
Originally Posted by Goyter
Heard a familiar call in the garden this morning
Male Pied Flycatcher in the tree he spent most of his time last year
Lets hope a female turns up...


Glad to hear he's arrived back. Is he earlier than normal?

First noticed him last year 2 weeks later than this so yeah I guess he's a lot earlier though I don't know whether last year he came 'straight' to my garden
Still here and showing well
He has been in a nest box several times and chases off any birds that get too close to it including a pair of Nuthatches which are usually pretty bossy around the garden themselves
 
Bought a bird table today and placed it at the bottom of the garden.

The table cost £10 from the B&M store, and I'm afraid you get what you pay for :-O Pretty poor wood, splits when you put the screws in etc.

However, as long as any large birds, my squirrel, or worse my goon of a :cat: (he's huge!) stay off of it, it may last a week.

Pair of great tits shown an interest, see what happens tomorrow, first full day :t:
 
Goyter said:
First noticed him last year 2 weeks later than this so yeah I guess he's a lot earlier though I don't know whether last year he came 'straight' to my garden
Still here and showing well
He has been in a nest box several times and chases off any birds that get too close to it including a pair of Nuthatches which are usually pretty bossy around the garden themselves
Click to expand...

First birds back at Macclesfield yesterday. Maybe he just wanted to hurry back home!

CB
 
Beginner type question BFB... where do the redpolls go?

Usual suspects here - lovely activity on the ground from blackbirds and dunnocks, one has a curious sticky-out feather on his side which is very distinctive. Goldfinches and sparrows still very busy on the feeders, and an odd blue tit each day.
 
jpscloud said:
Beginner type question BFB... where do the redpolls go?

Usual suspects here - lovely activity on the ground from blackbirds and dunnocks, one has a curious sticky-out feather on his side which is very distinctive. Goldfinches and sparrows still very busy on the feeders, and an odd blue tit each day.
Click to expand...

I think the Lesser Redpolls will be resident Scottish birds, possibly some Scandinavian birds, and I reckon the Mealys will be Scandinavian.

Still fairly quiet here with Goldfinch, Greenfinch in biggest numbers, Housesparrows busy and starting to get argumentative with each other, Blue and Great Tits singing, with the 2 Coal Tits showing a little more again. Not many Blackbirds about at the mo, but the Woodpigeons and Collared doves ever present in the garden. No Gulls for weeks now as they have all gone off breeding.

Starling numbers picking upalso....
 

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