Garden Birds (1 Viewer)

Thanks for setting up a site for garden birds Steve. It would be interesting to know when posting if members gardens are rural, urban, large small and whether they cater for birds i.e. management for birds and wildlife in general.

Does feeding take place and water, are there nestboxes and plants for birds.

Such a lot to find out, we could have threads metres long.

My garden is not too big, I have not measured it but I use a push petrol mower rather than a sit on. I am quite close to fields and am perhaps regarded by those living close by as a neighbour from hell as I have a very tall Leyllandi hedge. But it is great I have roosting thrushes and Starlings in the winter and breeding Thrushes, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Collared Dove and Goldcrest in the spring. I feed throughout the year and have four spots where water is provided.

My best bird was a Yellow-browed Warbler which was not accepted by those above. But I have no doubts so it is on my list!

Ours is a small suburban garden c. 20yrs old, 8yds x 16yds and within a half mile of the country side. There are a few mature Silver Birches on the estate along wih a few biggish Rowan, but mainly low garden shrubs. Our garden has shrubs to about 8' around the borders to provide roots/ perches, but the most favoured is my neighbours 15' Buddlea Globosa which holds maybe 100 birds at times. Birds grab food from th feeders and dive for the bushes.
We do have several ffeders in the garden and provide food all year round along with plenty of water.
Rarest birds we have had visiting, have been a Linnet looking for a nest sirte, a male and female Sparrowhawk which dined on our feeding birds several times last year and a female Blackcap which came to feed this Spring for one day only.
We have a Blue Tit nestbox containng a B&W camera that has been used successfully by Blue Tits for the last two years and a Great Tit as a roost over last Winter.

I live in a subdivision but at the end of a lane and a small farm is next to our property. The yard area in the back is about 30x50 ft. I do feed year round, have 16 feeders out and 2 birdbaths. I feed just about everything there is to feed the birds. The last three years since I've developed an interest in birds I have planted many shrubs, trees, perennials and wildflowers to feed the birds as well as nesting sites, etc. My yard is full of birds generally and as of now I've had 60 different species visit the backyard. Actually my yard looks like a jungle! I've managed to black out views of any neighbors, unless I'm hanging out my upstairs window taking pics, which is a daily thing for me!

Well I can't seem to find the discussion on misters, drippers,etc. that Burhinus {please excuse me if I didn't remember the spelling of your name correctly}! I do use a dripper and a mister, I find the dripper gets more action. The birds are sure drawn to the one birdbath that holds it. It's a bit of a waste of water though, but I plan on fixing that little problem with a pond next year {as my husband cringes at the thought}! I like the dripper because the water circulates continuously and as the days get hotter the water stays cooler, never evaporates and not so yucky looking!

Garden birds in rural areas

I live in a village in Norfolk surrounded by countryside. My garden, though small supports a large amount of birds, most of which use the garden perimeter blackthorn hedges to nest, although for the sparrows the well developed ivy that covers about a third of one house wall is very popular. I feed them all year round and they bring their babies in to feed too, which is a real treat and a great source of entertainment. I see sparrows, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, greenfinches, starlings, robins, collar necked doves and pidgeons. This year a thrush nested in our pergola and took full advantage of the snails that live in the ivy. The blackbirds are my favourites for entertainment, they even get onto the steps leading into our lounge for food while the doors are open and will come down to feed if I am sitting quietly in the garden. Fly-overs are house martins and ducks. Close by are skylarks, barn owls and others yet to be recognised! Garden food I use is bread, black sunflower seeds, fruit, apples being the blackbirds favourite, ground nuts, dried fruit and other cereals that I mould into fat balls.

Hello infojunkie and welcome to the bird forum.
Thanks for your posting, hope you enjoy visiting and do keep posting.

Sounds like a garden full of activity. Who needs TV with so much happening outdoors!

burhinus

Hi all, our garden is about 60x40ft 'ish we had to corden one area off, because we live in cat city. In this place we have a bird table surrounded by a carefully arranged log pile with an ash at the back of it, which has been managed by funky so that it doesn't grow too big with several branches acting like perches. Couldn't tell you the name of the shrubs that he has put in there but were picked for birds in mind especially for the winter with the berries on them. We also have a temporary bird bath. Snow berry bushes and blackcurrent bushes couple of apple trees. One nest box under the rafters of the house which we noticed that bluetits might be nesting in it. We do have some bat boxes but we are yet to put them up. there are also two silver birch trees in our garden and we are surrounded by hawthorn bush. We have Blue tits, great tits, coal tits, sparrows, collared doves, starlings, wood pigeons, greenfinches and the list goes on. We are designing our garden to accommodate the birds. Funky would like to put an electric fence up so that we can accommodate some ducks and to keep out the local cats and occasional dogs/foxes from our garden. We also love dragonflies so a pond is on the cards but it is where to put it and how big. We are not to far from the countryside is about 1/4 mile away. :bounce:

Dragonflies

Erp/Funky have you checked out this site??

http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/

I love 'em too and will also be making a pond next year we'll have to swap ideas

El Annie

Dragonflies

Hey! My yard and house decor has the dragonfly motif. Another winged favorite...o