Who's been at your bird feeders?

[BrianI]

Quite interesting seeing what birds have been at my bird feeders recently.
This morning I saw  a bunch of cheeky Starlings, a lone Robin, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit,  and a Pied Wagtail.

Not managed to get any photos yet though!

So what's been at your nuts and seeds?

[border-rider]

Greenfinch, Robin, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, GS Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail

Pheasants (5 males this morning) hoovering up the spillages.

Good thread

We can update it as the year rolls on and we get more variety

[Chris N]

Mostly robins, great and blue tits, house sparrows, chaffinches and the occasional dunnock.  We also have red-legged partridge that get in to the garden looking for spilled seeds.  We're getting fewer pigeons, jackdaws and magpies now we've gone to hanging feeders instead of a table.

[orienteer]

Mainly various tits for the nuts, goldfinches for the niger seeds, and robins for the mealworms. Also sometimes see green woodpecker in winter pecking at the lawn.

[valkyrie]

Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Wood Sparrow, Dunnet, Robin, Crows, Magpies, Pheasant, GS Woodpecker, Blackbirds, Pigeons, Doves, Wren, Starlings. This morning a crow was feeding from the peanut feeder, never seen that before.

[Mrs Pingu]

In this weather Mrs Blackbird is sitting waiting on the garden gate for me to go and get her mealworms when I leave for work, and then hops right down at my feet when I appear with my hands full of noms. She's that desperate I reckon she'd take them from my hand if I hung around long enough.

[mike]

In this weather Mrs Blackbird is sitting waiting on the garden gate for me to go and get her mealworms when I leave for work, and then hops right down at my feet when I appear with my hands full of noms. She's that desperate I reckon she'd take them from my hand if I hung around long enough.

you should try!  My sister managed to tame one enough to feed by hand a couple of years ago.


We get coal, blue and great tits, blackbirds, thrushes, greenfinches, spuggies, robins, lots of magpies, the occasional pheasant (called leonard, apparently), both greater and green woodpeckers, pigeons, starlings and recently a mum & baby muntjack clearing up the sweepings.

also loads of owls in the wood behind us and hedge in front which make an almighty din in the evening and morning

[Tail End Charlie]

I had a few redwings today on mine. When I first saw them I thought they were thrushes, but then noticed some slight differences, so got the book out and found what they were. I always enjoy watching the birds on the feeder. I like watching the order they seem to come in. Wish I could keep the larger birds (crows etc) away though.

[Rig of Jarkness]

...Wood Sparrow...

A good list    Do you mean tree sparrow ?

[Snakehips]

I saw a Pied Wagtail in the garden recently. Thought it was a sign that the harsh weather was having an impact , but the regular visitors didn't seem too hungry judging by the leftovers

Snake

[JStone]

Blue Tits (up to 4 if the usual morning gang pass through together at around 8am), 1 Great Tit .... that's it so far.

[Basil]

Blue tits, Great Tits(don't google it), chaffinches, nuthatches, coal tits, greater spotted woodpeckers[1] are the main visitors in descending order of abundance.

Guys who hop about on the lawn under the feeder but don't bother to attempt to feed directly from it are: More chaffinches (the females in particular stay on the floor) robins, blackbird and occasionally a sparrow (or dunnock, or something)

[1] Yes, plural woodpeckers.  I only realised this when I saw them both one morning last week.

[Wowbagger]

My brother told me that he had 40 waxwings in the garden yesterday, but I doubt if the bird feeder was responsible for that - more likely the hawthorn hedge.

[JStone]

Sudden influx of 8 long-tailed tits late this afternoon - first time we've seen them in the garden. They seemed just as interested in the red stalks of the dogwood opposite the feeders. Stayed for about 5 minutes.

[Rig of Jarkness]

Since putting up our bird table 3 weeks ago it's been practically monopolised by squirrels, woodpigeons, and one robin that chases everything smaller away.  Most disappointing   

[Mrs Pingu]

Since putting up our bird table 3 weeks ago it's been practically monopolised by squirrels, woodpigeons, and one robin that chases everything smaller away.  Most disappointing   

Try getting some hanging feeders as well. Not all birds like to stand or eat from ground or surfaces. If you have hanging feeders the robin and the tree rat will probably eat from the table and other birds will use the feeders.

[MikeFromLFE]

Since putting up our bird table 3 weeks ago it's been practically monopolised by squirrels, woodpigeons, and one robin that chases everything smaller away.  Most disappointing   

That was my early experience - after a while the word will get around the  'interesting' birds and they will come, 'cos you built it.
I'd also agree that some hanging feeders are good as a variety of other birds will (eventually) use them too.
Wood pidgeons I can live with as they are quite entertaining - but squirrels 

[Fi]

I have been inundated with magpies, pigeons and jackdaws this year, for the first time.  They mainly eat from the tables, but if there's no food there, they'll hang on the hanging feeders.  I think I'm going to get a cage for the table that's close to the ground to keep out the bigger birds.

Starling count is now down to 20 a time maximum.  We used to get them in fifties, which was rather a lot in a small garden.

[Cudzoziemiec]

There was a lump of bacon about 4x3x1" hanging outside the kitchen window. Various tits fed on it and were chased off by a couple of big greedy jays. And then a couple of mornings ago it was gone. I thought it might have fallen into the snow, but no, it's definitely been swiped.

But what by? A can't imagine any bird the size of a jay or crow could have taken it. We have buzzards and sparrowhawks here, perhaps one of them, but haven't seen them recently. Or a neighbour's cat - too high up for a dog.

[Rig of Jarkness]

Thanks for the suggestions above.  In fact we also have hanging feeders but the squirrels eat most of what's in them too ( a notable exception being the GS woodpecker that visits the peanuts several times a day).  We've also put up hanging fat balls and they too are mostly devoured by squirrels. 

My next strategy is to buy the sort of cage feeder mentioned by Fi.  Once the ground defrosts sufficiently I'm also going to move the stand for the hanging feeders nearer to the cover of the perimeter beech hedge.  At the moment it's stuck in the middle of the lawn and I think that may be deterring the smaller birds.

NB I'd be perfectly happy if the squirrels were a different colour.

[Rig of Jarkness]

There was a lump of bacon about 4x3x1" hanging outside the kitchen window. Various tits fed on it and were chased off by a couple of big greedy jays. And then a couple of mornings ago it was gone. I thought it might have fallen into the snow, but no, it's definitely been swiped.

But what by? A can't imagine any bird the size of a jay or crow could have taken it. We have buzzards and sparrowhawks here, perhaps one of them, but haven't seen them recently. Or a neighbour's cat - too high up for a dog.

Do you have any bears in your street ? 

[Snakehips]

But what by? A can't imagine any bird the size of a jay or crow could have taken it. We have buzzards and sparrowhawks here, perhaps one of them, but haven't seen them recently. Or a neighbour's cat - too high up for a dog.

A fox could smell a piece of bacon from a long distance away. They can jump over 6ft fences.
I had a dead Wood Pigeon in my garden last week , killed by a cat. It lay on the ground untouched all day and disappeared just after dark , when the fox makes its first visit of the evening.

[henshaw11]

Re squirrels  - have a google for 'squirrel baffler' - there's a few types. One's  a perspex dome with a hole in it - that fits between a pole and the feeder on top, or above a hanging feeder (or partyway up one of feeding station type poles, if you're creative with rubber cane end protectors). The other type - more for bird tables - is a cone of  plastic card. Equally you could knock up a pyramidal version out of correx/coroplast.

I think there's two mesh sizes of cage - IIRC it's the smallest you need if you want/need to keep out squirrels too (depending on what food you're putting in) That seems to get most visits from robins/finches.

Our main feeder is pretty much in the middle of the lawn and gets lots of small birds with the right food - nothing seems to like the fat balls (unless there's really nothing else). Probably not helped by them now being old, but even when freshly bought nothing much liked them We also tried peanuts - no joy - yet next door have a peanut feeder that's well-visited. Perhaps our peanuts are rubbish !

But the one thing that's a real hit at the moment with bluetits is a suet-type slab feeder - shop bought slabs so far but I really ought to try making some up myself

[Rig of Jarkness]

^ Thanks, I'll give it a go 

[border-rider]

Suet slabs are a big hit here too, and so are fat balls.

Peanuts also seem popular

We buy our bird food in vast quantities from the RSPCA online shop.  It seems good, and their mixed seed has less husk so you don't end up knee-deep in discarded chaff.  We do shift industrial quantities of it, though.