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Hello :) New passion for Garden Birds & Feeding + (first question to aha) (1 Viewer)

J

Joe94

Well-known member
United Kingdom
Hey all,

Hope everyone is well? I’m new to this forum, with a new found passion for Birds & new to Garden Bird feeding.

Bit of background.....

So over the last several months, through shielding I have gained an interest in photography, which then turned into a particular interest of bird photography, which has now led me to gain a huge passion for birds. So because of this, a few weeks ago I set up a full feeding set up in the garden, to hopefully attract some more species to the garden & touch wood so far things are looking good. Since having this set up I have not attracted 3 Robins that come back daily & have even spotted a Blue tit (hopefully will start coming back) feeding, both of which I have never seen in the garden before 😀

Iv always had sparrows around & also large groups of Starlings (especially in the winter, when they do group together more than the summer), being in Wiltshire and so they’re loving the new feeding hub, especially the starlings, which yes although they can get through a whole feeder of suet pellets in a day, I actually don’t mind because they are beautiful birds in my opinion & thankfully they don’t seem to be affecting other birds, who also still get a go at the.

So currently I have set up a metal branched type feeding station, with various different feeders hanging: Suet pellets, fat balls, sunflower hearts, good mix seed & crushed peanuts...

Touch wood so far they all seem to be being used (mainly by the sparrows, starlings & new Robbins), suet pellets mostly, then the sunflower hearts, then the fat balls. The mix seed hasn’t been touched too much, but I understand birds prefer fattier thing in the winter & mixed seed in the hotter months. Along with this station, I also have a roofed table which I had a selection of the above + dried mealworms, which again a variety seem to use including the odd pigeon & magpie. Then the final thing I have is a ground feeder which again I put a mix of things with meal worms, which is mainly used at the ml and loved by the Robins. So yeah touch wood everything seems to be working well & hopefully more things will come soon, although I appreciate it only been a few weeks & can take months for new birds to arrive (just a bit impatient & excited aha) 😀

Following all this, I just have one question & that whether I should stick with the peanuts or should I have put up a nijer seed feeder? The reason I ask is I have read very mixed things about both & currently the peanuts haven’t been touch (but again I appreciate it’s only been a few week)?

Many thanks all & I look forward to getting to know you :)
 
Welcome to Birdforum! I am sure that you will find lots to interest you here and I hope that you enjoy your visits.

It sounds as though you are providing quite a feast for your garden visitors! I have found that peanuts go down very well in my garden, particularly with blue tits, great tits, nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers. I provide niger which coal tits seem to like and I get very occasional visits from goldfinches, greenfinches and bullfinches on it.
 
Kits said:
Welcome to Birdforum! I am sure that you will find lots to interest you here and I hope that you enjoy your visits.

It sounds as though you are providing quite a feast for your garden visitors! I have found that peanuts go down very well in my garden, particularly with blue tits, great tits, nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers. I provide niger which coal tits seem to like and I get very occasional visits from goldfinches, greenfinches and bullfinches on it.
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Ahh thank you very much, nice to meet you & yeah I’m sure I will, just looking at some of the threads, there is so much to enjoy aha. I’m part of a photography forum too which has been very helpful & to find this for my other passion is great, because I really enjoy interacting with other, in the same boat :)

I also see you can add images into the gallery section, so may post a couple of recent images following my new feeding set up :)

As for the peanuts vs Nijer, it seems having both has worked well for you :) I think however in that case, as it’s peanuts I currently have set up & don’t actually have a Nijer feeder or seeds, I’ll stick with the peanuts for bit longer (as I said my excitement has made me a bit impatient haha) and hopefully soon they will start being used and particularly if you say it’s your Blue tits that enjoy them, hopefully I will attract the one from the other day back more, with its friends :)

I think I just need to give my current set up more tim, it’s only been a few weeks :)

Thanks again though, great to meet you :)
 
Hi Joe and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

You are so lucky... it took months for birds to find my feeders LOL I find my tits (particularly the Blue Tits and ((Great Tit - yep just one!)) love the peanuts and I can have several on that feeder at a time. I've given up on Niger seed, as I don't seem to get the finches in to eat them. I have a few Blackbirds come and they love red grapes. I used to get green as well, but they don't seem so keen on them!

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news. Hopefully we'll see some of your pictures in the Gallery too?
 
delia todd said:
Hi Joe and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

You are so lucky... it took months for birds to find my feeders LOL I find my tits (particularly the Blue Tits and ((Great Tit - yep just one!)) love the peanuts and I can have several on that feeder at a time. I've given up on Niger seed, as I don't seem to get the finches in to eat them. I have a few Blackbirds come and they love red grapes. I used to get green as well, but they don't seem so keen on them!

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news. Hopefully we'll see some of your pictures in the Gallery too?
Click to expand...

Hi Delia, thank you very much and very nice to meet you too :)

Aww I must admit, I was so happy when I even saw the Robins & especially the Blue tit aha. But thank you for your advice on the peanuts, and again I think in that case I will stick with the peanuts for now then, not bother with Nijer and yeah hopefully the blue tit will return with friends :)

Thank you I’m sure I will, you have all already been very welcoming & helpful And I will certainly keep you all posted with my progress. As for images, I have actually just sorted a couple out which I thought I’d upload as a taster of hopefully things to come from me :)
 
I realize that you are in the UK and hat my experiences are all from Canada and Florida but I believe that there are equivelent species in each country. I don't think that you can compare peanuts and nyger, they are there for very different species. I feed both nyger for finches and whole shelled peanuts for the woodpeckers, jays, starlings. nuthatches and chickadees. I feed whole black oil sunflower seed. It is the seed that is almost universally acceptable to feeder birds. My setup includes feeders for each of sunflower seeds, nyger seed, peanuts, suet and a good finch mix. I use to have a ground feeder but my circumstances don't allow that any more. My gound feeding birds work cleanup on the ground under the feeders. I use to run up to 12 different feeders but now I'm down the those that I mentioned. I don't but things like suet pellets or sunflower chips. I use blocks of suet and sunflower seeds in their hulls. It is a lot cheaper, I believe, to do things that way and serious feeding can get quite expensive.
 
snowyowl said:
I realize that you are in the UK and hat my experiences are all from Canada and Florida but I believe that there are equivelent species in each country. I don't think that you can compare peanuts and nyger, they are there for very different species. I feed both nyger for finches and whole shelled peanuts for the woodpeckers, jays, starlings. nuthatches and chickadees. I feed whole black oil sunflower seed. It is the seed that is almost universally acceptable to feeder birds. My setup includes feeders for each of sunflower seeds, nyger seed, peanuts, suet and a good finch mix. I use to have a ground feeder but my circumstances don't allow that any more. My gound feeding birds work cleanup on the ground under the feeders. I use to run up to 12 different feeders but now I'm down the those that I mentioned. I don't but things like suet pellets or sunflower chips. I use blocks of suet and sunflower seeds in their hulls. It is a lot cheaper, I believe, to do things that way and serious feeding can get quite expensive.
Click to expand...
Hello, thank you very much for all these hints & tips, very helpful & much appreciate :)

It seems that there are so many different types of seed, that many different species enjoy, but with many cross overs too & so I think it will be a case off seeing what happens with my current set up over the next few weeks and then if certain things don’t work, try something new.

But yeah I think the key with me, is giving it time (as I say bit impatient with excitement aha) & also bearing in mind cost, because your right, this is also something I’m keeping an eye on to make sure both myself & the birds are happy :)
 
Hi Joe, welcome to the forum. Seeing birds in the yard/garden is such an enjoyment. I think you will see more and more come as time goes on and as winter settles in.
 
Lisa W said:
Hi Joe, welcome to the forum. Seeing birds in the yard/garden is such an enjoyment. I think you will see more and more come as time goes on and as winter settles in.
Click to expand...
Thank you Lisa 😀

They certainly are & thank you for the reassurance, I do hope they do 😊
 
Evening All,

Apologies but I have a very beginner question....

So every day this week my little Robin has visited his feeder however today I have not seen him once, at any of the normal time... Is this normal that's some days a bird may not come for whatever reason?

Im just worried their not going to come back.

Many Thanks :)
 
Welcome joe94.
I have found the coconut shells filled with suet and seeds good for a variety of birds, especially at this time of year. I also put the empty shells on the ground as a water supply for ground feeders. They do tend to freeze in the winter though!

I wouldn’t worry about the robin - I’m sure it will be back!
 
Julie50 said:
Welcome joe94.
I have found the coconut shells filled with suet and seeds good for a variety of birds, especially at this time of year. I also put the empty shells on the ground as a water supply for ground feeders. They do tend to freeze in the winter though!

I wouldn’t worry about the robin - I’m sure it will be back!
Click to expand...
Hello Julie, Thank you very much & Thank you for the tips, I must have a look at the coconut suet feeders :)

Aww thank you for the reassurance, I hope he does aha :)
 
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