MRS Blackcap now! (1 Viewer)

Renee Redstart said:

Just got in and, as always, sat at the window while sorting my stuff out. Can never resist peering out while I'm there, and lo and behold saw someone new on the fat feeder. Bins out, and there she was; Mrs. Blackcap! Then Mr. Blackcap came to the ground beneath, before going back to his usual spot in the guardian cage. Another minute or too, and I'd have missed her! :bounce:

Click to expand...

Renee Redstart said:

Just got in and, as always, sat at the window while sorting my stuff out. Can never resist peering out while I'm there, and lo and behold saw someone new on the fat feeder. Bins out, and there she was; Mrs. Blackcap! Then Mr. Blackcap came to the ground beneath, before going back to his usual spot in the guardian cage. Another minute or two, and I'd have missed her! :bounce:

Click to expand...

Renee Redstart said:

Just got in and, as always, sat at the window while sorting my stuff out. Can never resist peering out while I'm there, and lo and behold saw someone new on the fat feeder. Bins out, and there she was; Mrs. Blackcap! Then Mr. Blackcap came to the ground beneath, before going back to his usual spot in the guardian cage. Another minute or two, and I'd have missed her! :bounce:

Click to expand...

Silver Lady said:

Hi Renee..

How lucky are you to see A Blackcap for I have never even seen one in the wild let alone in my garden...

Merry Christmas...Silver Lady

Click to expand...

Renee Redstart said:

Thanks for that, SL. No-one could have been more amazed than me when the male Blackcap first appeared, let alone the female. He's been several times a day, every day, to the small 'woodland' style patch and eaten the ground feed I put in the guardian cage alongside the other birds. Everyone on the board said to look out for Mrs., but I didn't really expect to see her. Then they ate together on the fat feeder. They're my newcomers of the year, and an extra bonus on Christmas morning. I am lucky!
Best wishes, and bowing out at what appears to be Boxing Day already!
:gn:

Click to expand...

Silver Lady said:

I have wondered about putting a caged ground feeder out...Do the birds go into it and use it regularly? I have not had much sucess with the tray I bought for my ground feeders and was continually throwing away far more than was ever eaten

Hello Silver Lady

I have had a green guardian cage on the ground for a couple of years now. I only use it during the winter months and usually put a mixed seed and a special robin mix in it. It is used regularly by all the small ground feeders and sometimes finches and tits, when the reed bunting is visiting he also pops in. I put a plastic tray on the top of the cage to keep the feed dry.

Bridie

Click to expand...

Silver Lady said:

Hello Renee...How wonderful to now see both Mr and Mrss Blackcap feeding in your garden...I feel very happy for you and yet quite envious at the same time!!! I have wondered about putting a caged ground feeder out...Do the birds go into it and use it regularly? I have not had much sucess with the tray I bought for my ground feeders and was continually throwing away far more than was ever eaten...Hope you can help advise me what I am doing wrong Renee...

Hope you have enjoyed a lovely Christmas Day...Mine has been peaceful and reflective and we enjoyed a really superb meal in very pleasant surroundings ...The bright sunny weather with blue skies today has turned perisihing cold tonight and seems to be a taste of what is forecast for us next week, more's the pity...

Christmas Day has rolled on into Boxing Day and as it is now my birthday, I shall enjoy a Bailys or two...I hope you will join me...Cheers! Silver x

Click to expand...

Renee Redstart said:

A bit of a belated reply to your post, almost 24 hours in fact!
My birds use the cage guardian all the time, after they had got used to it. I use the sort with a mesh to allow Blackbirds and Thrushes, so I get all sorts in there too. It's placed under the branches of bushes at the foot of a big conifer, where I have created a woodland style environment. (It makes my garden sound huge, but this area is only about 10 sq.yards or so.) I put the guardian there to protect them from any cats which might creep up, and the Sparrowhawk. That area and the cage provided a refuge for moulting Blackbirds, and it's where the Song Thrush first appeared, and where the male Blackcap first appeared. I have a slab of tree trunk as a 'platter' on which I put ground feed. This is a mixture of insectivorous foods and pinhead oatmeal, with sultanas by the side. I hoped this would attract the ground feeding birds, and it has. The Blackbirds are waiting every morning for me to replenish the 'platter' if I'm a bit late, then the Thrush, Robin, Dunnocks and Chaffinches turn up throughout the day, plus Starlings and the Squirrel sometimes.
I can't imagine that you are doing anything wrong. Birds are funny sometimes. so I don't really know what to suggest.
I have only been doing serious bird feeding for about 18 months now, and am constantly amazed and delighted by what turns up in my garden; birds I'd never seen in my entire life, and birds like the Blackcap that I'd never even heard of.
Hope this helps for now, and keep in touch with what happens in your garden.
Good luck Silver, and again it's Goodnight from me!

Click to expand...