catbasket
Well-known member
Howdy folks.
When it snowed here in Sussex (south east UK) back in December we thought we'd help out the local birds by putting out a few fat balls and a fresh water supply in the hedgerow opposite the house. Just to help them through the cold spell of course, me having no real interest in birds and OH having a bit of a bird phobia ...
The cold spell continued, the snow came back with a vengeance in January ... so we kept on putting out food. The only reason we put extra fat balls and a seed feeder in the garden was to better identify the tits and stop the "they're all blue tits", "no, they're all coal tits" arguments.
Buying the pole to hang feeders on was only because we didn't want the little feathery beasties eating the buds of our ornamental cherry tree. It was a pure fluke that we put the feeding station closer to the window, which meant we could see the birds easily while sitting on the sofa. Also it just happened that all the feeders ended up in such a position that we could see them all ... and I most definitely did not spend any time rigging it so the auto-focus on my cheap camera could focus properly on the feed tray (you have to put the seed feeder exactly here).
So yeah, we're hooked. Even the bird-phobic OH loves to sit and watch the birds feeding ... she'll even sit at the garden table while the birds fly to and fro. Though the bigger birds will sometimes freak her out :eek!:
Now we have several feeders offering a selection of fine meals for the discerning bird - mixed seed, sunflower hearts, peanuts, thistle seeds, fat balls and a tray for my beef dripping/chopped peanut based mix which goes in the feed tray. Plus a water supply of course.
Here's a list of our regular visitors -
Blue tit
Great tit
House sparrow
Starling
Robin
Collared dove
Nuthatch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Woodpigeon
Blackbird
Magpie
Carrion crow
Occasional visitors include marsh (or willow) tit and long-tailed tits who were regular visitors for a few weeks but haven't been around for about three weeks unfortunately. We've also seen three swallows sitting on a cable above the hedgerow watching the activity at the feeders, there's a barn owl who sometimes hunts along the hedgerow and a red kite fairly often soaring above the field opposite us.
Well I reckon that's more than enough waffle for one post. See ya soon!
When it snowed here in Sussex (south east UK) back in December we thought we'd help out the local birds by putting out a few fat balls and a fresh water supply in the hedgerow opposite the house. Just to help them through the cold spell of course, me having no real interest in birds and OH having a bit of a bird phobia ...
The cold spell continued, the snow came back with a vengeance in January ... so we kept on putting out food. The only reason we put extra fat balls and a seed feeder in the garden was to better identify the tits and stop the "they're all blue tits", "no, they're all coal tits" arguments.
Buying the pole to hang feeders on was only because we didn't want the little feathery beasties eating the buds of our ornamental cherry tree. It was a pure fluke that we put the feeding station closer to the window, which meant we could see the birds easily while sitting on the sofa. Also it just happened that all the feeders ended up in such a position that we could see them all ... and I most definitely did not spend any time rigging it so the auto-focus on my cheap camera could focus properly on the feed tray (you have to put the seed feeder exactly here).
So yeah, we're hooked. Even the bird-phobic OH loves to sit and watch the birds feeding ... she'll even sit at the garden table while the birds fly to and fro. Though the bigger birds will sometimes freak her out :eek!:
Now we have several feeders offering a selection of fine meals for the discerning bird - mixed seed, sunflower hearts, peanuts, thistle seeds, fat balls and a tray for my beef dripping/chopped peanut based mix which goes in the feed tray. Plus a water supply of course.
Here's a list of our regular visitors -
Blue tit
Great tit
House sparrow
Starling
Robin
Collared dove
Nuthatch
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Woodpigeon
Blackbird
Magpie
Carrion crow
Occasional visitors include marsh (or willow) tit and long-tailed tits who were regular visitors for a few weeks but haven't been around for about three weeks unfortunately. We've also seen three swallows sitting on a cable above the hedgerow watching the activity at the feeders, there's a barn owl who sometimes hunts along the hedgerow and a red kite fairly often soaring above the field opposite us.
Well I reckon that's more than enough waffle for one post. See ya soon!
