What are Goldfinches feeding on in your garden? (BTO) (1 Viewer)

Latest update from the BTO: What are Goldfinches feeding on in your garden?


While Garden BirdWatchers are telling us that Goldfinches are becoming increasingly common in gardens, we don't fully understand the reasons for this. How important is the food we put out or the plants we grow? Do they truly prefer nyger seed or is sunflower seed their choice treat?*We need your help between now and the end of February to find out the answers!
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all ours seem to have disappeared this year despite a constant supply of nijer and sunflower

When I first moved to my present home in Canterbury, I dug a pond and installed a small pumped stream. Within a short space of time I had up to 11 bathing in the stream at any one time. No feeders to attract them, they just appeared. I should add that I am surrounded by farmland heavily cultivated.
My wife added many plants, some known to be attractive to birds, peanut feeder,mixed seed and fastballs. Nettles and various thistles were allowed to thrive behind the back fence. Farmer the left a 6 Mtr strip and the newly planted trees and shrubs got bigger and bigger
Sparrows and tits and many other birds visited daily but...............the Goldies stopped coming after a couple of years. Maybe 7 years without seeing one.

There is a resident crowd of sparrows, about 35 at the last count,several pairs of tits 3 types, chiffchafs,robins,a pair of wrens,and several others ranging from a Heron downwards in size.
Pretty much a bird heaven, but no Goldies...............until.......This year when I installed Niger feeder, and within a couple of weeks there was a pair of adults with two young. They still visit daily, even in pouring rain.

So I have to ask the question, have they been passing by and simply not stopping? A similar thing happened when I reseeded a patch of lawn, two days later a couple of Yellowhammers were eating the seed, they came for a couple of days and then left........not seen them since!

I should add that I spend a large part of my life watching my garden ��

Den

I have a small garden, but I have an old tree with a few feeders in, mainly feeding a good quality finch food and sunflower hearts and had 38 goldfinches in today, at one time, and 23 siskins, and they get through the food at a rate I can tell you!!!
I guess im just lucky

We live on a small corner plot on the edge of a field in mid Sussex.

About 4-5 years ago we were visited by a goldfinch. We only saw one at first but there may have been more than one and we cannot tell the sexes apart!

We had a sunflower feeder and installed a nyger feeder. It took forever for the gfs to find them but the numbers grew. It became obvious that they distinctly preferred sunflower seeds so we stopped ordering nyger seeds.

We can never count more than 22 at a time. A couple of years ago an acquaintance of my wife called leaving her husband parked in their car in the adjacent lane. When she left he commented on the goldfinches and my wife said we had over twenty. He replied saying we had many more than that, maybe a hundred, look in the (bare) tree branches!

We don't know how many there are now but there were many new additions through this year.

Is there state or other aid - we need help to keep up? Its not as if we don't have other birds - maybe as many sparrows and many others.

We had Siskins last year but saw none this year.