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What is best food & bird-feeder? (For nr mixed woodland in Coastal Scottish Highlands (1 Viewer)

S

shiphen

Active member
What is best food & bird-feeder? (For nr mixed woodland in Coastal Scottish Highlands

Hello

Do you have any recommendation for what is the best type(s) of food and bird-feeder to put up near a holiday house next to some mixed woodland in the Scottish West Highlands?

The truth is I'm not 100% sure what birds are nearby but I have seen Siskin, Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Linnet, Twite, Crossbill, Goldfinch.

Local plant-life includes: Scots pine, sycamore, oak, ash, box, apple, hazel, lime, rowan, willow, yew, holly silver birch, gorse, rough grazing including heather, bracken, various reeds, various luxuriant mosses, lots of lichen, crottle, ferns, bramble, rhododendron, honeysuckle, coastal maram grass, thyme, sea pinks.

Re predators we have pine marten and sparrow hawk.

Many thanks

J


PS It there any kind of "one-way glass" or plastic film that one could stick onto the glass to stop the birds from seeing you inside the house?
 
If it's just one feeder, then perhaps a commercial squirrel proof feeder filled with a variety of good quality sunflower hearts, suet pellets and mixed British seeds and grains such as milled oats, corn. Millet is also attractive to finches and sparrows ( white or red ). Are you sitting the feeder on a pole or tree?
A supply of fresh water is also good for birds to drink and bath in.
 
PYRTLE said:
If it's just one feeder, then perhaps a commercial squirrel proof feeder filled with a variety of good quality sunflower hearts, suet pellets and mixed British seeds and grains such as milled oats, corn. Millet is also attractive to finches and sparrows ( white or red ). Are you sitting the feeder on a pole or tree?
A supply of fresh water is also good for birds to drink and bath in.
Click to expand...

It could be more than one bird feeder.
It would be on it's own pole.

It woud be quite near the house so I'm not sure squirrels would be a problem. In fact I'm not sure if there ARE any grey squirrels in the area, due to the large number of Pine Martens which will predate on them. If red squirrels feed I don't think we mind.
 
Yes, I was going to say that Shiphen... I doubt very much if there are Grey Squirrels in the area and Red Squirrels are far less troublesome.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on.
 
Red squirrels would indeed be most welcome to me as well. I would guess then a sturdy pole with a few "branches" so you can put different feeders. If possible at least 3, sunflower hearts, seeds and suet pellets or a suet fat balls / block. Easy to get carried away. On previous posts I've commented that an integral water tray can become messy with spilt food, droppings etc if not maintained regularly.
In winter perhaps a nyger seed feeder for siskins, redpolls and gold finches though the seed is expensive and the birds may take some time to find and feed.
Good luck.
 
PYRTLE said:
Red squirrels would indeed be most welcome to me as well. I would guess then a sturdy pole with a few "branches" so you can put different feeders. If possible at least 3, sunflower hearts, seeds and suet pellets or a suet fat balls / block. Easy to get carried away. On previous posts I've commented that an integral water tray can become messy with spilt food, droppings etc if not maintained regularly.
In winter perhaps a nyger seed feeder for siskins, redpolls and gold finches though the seed is expensive and the birds may take some time to find and feed.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't quite understand that. What would be the three core types of feed? And are there any feeders machines that are particularly good.

For simplicity I'm willing to bet that the changeover staff would much prefer just ONE type of feed.

So with a gun to your head and forced to chose just ONE brand of feed and ONE feeder device, what would you recommend?

Many thanks
 
PYRTLE said:
https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/seed-f...lickType=Text&ListType=&ListName=&Position=22
https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/seed-m...ClickType=Text&ListType=&ListName=&Position=8

Purely to save time and, attract a range of species.
I've used the RSPB site just to illustrate.
P
Click to expand...

I like definitely like the idea of being "easy to clean" and that RSPB one looks reasonably smart. Unfortunately it has quite a few poor reviews on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/product-re...e=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&showViewpoints=0

Lots of people are moaning about the perches falling off.

Any other suggestions?


EDIT: A further consideration is the weather (!)
It is extremely windy and rains a lot. There is also lots of salt spray from the sea. So we want something that is extremely durable/weather proof, aesthetically attractive and easy to clean.

Also, in order to make sure the birds spend time on the feeder(s) I guess it shouldn't be TOO easy to get the food!

It is a "green field site" i.e. there is nothing of an sort in place yet in.
So I guess we would need to hammer in a big, tall fence post to hang whatever it is off.
OR should we have TWO fence posts with a wire between them and then hang the feeder(s) off that?

On reflection maybe, in order to get a diverse range of birds, we should have 2 or 3 different types of feeder after all, even though refilling the feeders gets to be a pain.

Also nobody has mentioned one-way glass yet... :)
 
Last edited:
Hi J
Just sticking to your remit of 1 feeder as suggested. Everything ( cost, longetivity and variety of foodstuffs ) is relevant. If I could add a couple of other pointers for consideration.
The birds will visit to feed as quickly as possible, some will stay longer than others, dependant on their technique. Some take an item and fly off whilst others will stay and gorge until full. They will stay nearby as long as they are not disturbed or move on when ready.
Weather proofing is usually done by a waterproof baffle over the top. Personally I don't like stretched wires as birds can fly into them. Here's a couple more hardy ideas but the cost reflects the size and quality.
Best not to stand too close to a window, or move about when observing. Stay back and enjoy, perhaps a little pair of inexpensive binoculars and log book for the visitors.
https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...wjlu7aO8ergAhW7QxUIHY7yCQAQwg96BAgLEAc&adurl=
 
Last edited:
> Here's a couple more hardy ideas but the cost reflects the size and quality.

@Pyrtle - Was there a link? Nothing visible... on my screen at least.
 
Last edited:
Personally I would not worry too much about the feeders being close to the house as long as there is plenty of vegetation cover nearby. I stayed in a holiday cottage near Kylescu a couple of years back and there was a feeder mounted on a short pole about ten feet way from the window on the edge of a shrubbery. The feeder simply had peanuts in it and there was a constant stream of finches (siskin, goldfinch, green finch, chaffinch), blue, great and coal tits all day long.

A word of caution here. If this is for a holiday let and you are reliant on the cleaning/maintenance staff to keep them topped up then it may need to be a large feeder or use something like peanut which takes the birds longer to eat. On the same holiday I put up my own feeder (never go on holiday without it) which is a three partition affair
(https://www.brinvale.com/products/t...352150957314&utm_content=Ad Group All Product)
which holds mixed seed, nuts/sunflower hearts/suet pellets and fat balls, and simply due to the sheer number of birds it was emptied on a daily basis apart from the fat balls.

If you have red squirrels in the area they love peanuts and you can get special squirrel feeder boxes with an opening lid which keeps the food dry.
Sounds like it might be a great set up. let us now how you get on.
 
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