New customers at the bird table.

[88V8]

We feed about a cwt of seed a year, Vine House high energy with suet.
It all goes through one rustic bird table that I made in 1987.
Nearby - about 5ft away - a bird bath.
And plenty of shrub cover.

There is also a peanut feed next to the table.

Since moving here, we notice new customers for the seed:

Nuthatch, chases other birds off. Used to visit just for the nuts.
The red-arsed woodpecker, surely the world's shyest bird. Previously he/she just came for the peanuts.
Gold finches, lots.
Coal tits.
Long-tailed tits, my favourite. Formerly, they were in the trees but never on the table.

No starlings, even though they feed at our nearest neighbour's, OK that is 200yds away. Mixed feelings about starlings, they are less numerous nowadays, but can't say I ever liked them.

Have you noticed changes in your seed customers?

V8

[bungeejumper]

Thanks for that, V8. Out here in West Wilts, we've got pretty much the same birds on our hanging feeders, with the occasional addition of a lesser spotted woodpecker - you get Big Chief Eye Spy points for those! Really love the long tailed tits as well - they're so tiny, and they arrive in numbers, presumably for safety, because they don't like sharing a feeder with other, larger birds.

One species that we don't want so much of is the jackdaws, which have been raiding the fat ball dispensers, curse them. (They can demolish them at quite a rate). We are winning against the grey squirrels, though. One recent change is that the robins and the blackbirds are getting to the hanging feeders - normally they can't do them because their feet aren't well suited to the task.

It's always exciting to see nuthatches, although it doesn't seem to happen often. The only bird that can run down a tree trunk as well as up it. But golly, that pointy beak. No wonder they scare the other birds off.

BJ

[scotia]

Up in our garden in Central Scotland, starlings are the most numerous visitors (in packs). We get sparrows, dunnocks, robin, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, long tailed tits (occasionally), chaffinches, bullfinches, goldfinches, wrens, blackbirds and thrushes (occasionally), pigeons and (undesirable) magpies. The crows dislike the fenced-in nature of our garden, and only visit out of necessity in severe weather conditions. We have feeders for suet balls, sunflower kernels and peanuts. We spread muesli on the ground - it causes a lot less weed problems than wild bird food, and it is reasonably economical (from Lidl). We are fighting a war with a neighbour's cat, who likes to hide under bushes near to feeding birds. I have been deploying holly cuttings in its favourite spots with some success, forcing it to find other hides.

[tjh290633]

Our peanut feeders attract a family of jays, which is a relatively new development. A few years ago a family of jackdaws were often about. Greenfinches used to proliferate, but now seldom more than a pair. House sparrows have left us alone for a good few years now.

Woodpigeons and collared doves are always about.

TJH

[sg31]

One species that we don't want so much of is the jackdaws, which have been raiding the fat ball dispensers, curse them. (They can demolish them at quite a rate). We are winning against the grey squirrels, though. One recent change is that the robins and the blackbirds are getting to the hanging feeders - normally they can't do them because their feet aren't well suited to the task.

BJ

We have a robin who almost lives on our bird feeder, I think he considers it his private dining area. He's developed the humming bird technique of feeding, he hovers next to the feederand pecks madly then rests on top of it for a while to get his breath back before having another go. He had a mate last year who simply landed on the feeder and fed. You would think he would learn from her but he never did.

I never considered it might be a foot problem. I'll be more sympathetic next time he does it.

[tea42]

My wife was a diligent bird feeder and there was always lots. Less now I have been feeding less frequently

Blackbirds
Noisy gangs of Starlings (we call them The Boys, love them)
Robin
Wren
Sparrows
Collared Dove pair
Woodpigeons
Blue Tits
Red Kites wheeling overhead constantly, sometimes up to 10

Less frequently
Goldfinches
Greenfinches
Chaffinches
Coal Tits
Long tailed tits
Thrushes
Magpies
Rooks
Crows
Jackdaws
Swifts screaming around on summer evenings

Occasionally
Sparrow Hawk eating blackbirds
Heron by the pond
Nuthatch
Jay...other birds go mad if one comes

Some birds are seasonal, Chaffinches, Goldfinches. We had House Martins for some years but they have now left.

Havent really noticed much change although Kites have definately increased over the years.

Al

[EssDeeAitch]

We have something of a dearth of birds unfortunately (Northumberland). We put out plenty of seed/fat in two feeding areas and I have just put up a seed table as well but only seem to attract Robins (also feeding direct from feeders), Blue Tits, Blackbirds and naturally Magpies, Crows, Jackdaws.

We have seen Greenfinch and last January, about three weeks after moving in we saw a Jay but he never returned. Our house backs onto a racecourse and golf course and with all the open space close by we are somewhat surprised.

We were surprised to see a fox calmly walking along the top of the leylandii hedge cheeky thing.

[tea42]

My experience is that if you put food out regularly you will slowly build a following of more and varied birds. Stopped feeding because my wife was very ill and I havent fed them as regularly so the visits have dropped off. Get a ground feeder too because thats how some feed and of course some fat balls for the tits etc

[scotia]

I forgot to mention greenfinches - which used to be very common, but as reported by TJH their visitations seem to have reduced substantially. At one time sparrows were very common, then they seemed to disappear, but now they are back in reasonable numbers. Many years ago, house martins arrived and built their mud nests under the eaves of our own and neighbouring houses. Then after a few years they failed to return.

[midnightcatprowl]

Greenfinches sadly only see the odd one these days.

Goldfinches - masses of them, they love sunflower seed especially the 'kibbled' sort and I have a small nijer seed feeder which is heavily used.

Sparrows - lots and lots but this has built up not just while I've been feeding but also since growing mixed native hedging in my very small garden. The results aren't particularly scenic but the sparrows love to dive into it for cover and their numbers have distinctly increased since it got established.

Long tailed tits - regular visitors in little groups, you just have to be looking out of the window at the right moment as they seem to be passers through rather than hangers around.

Dunnocks - well rarely see more than one at a time but see 'one' so often that I assume there are several of them.

Robin - always have one, currently have two and no fighting so assume a female has been able to persuade a male that he wants her to stick around.

Wren - well you never really 'see' a wren, more something dives from one hedge to the other and in retrospect you remember the shape of the tail. I've got one - or?

Blackbirds: only ever see one female at the moment. Often see two or three males in a VERY small garden, quite a lot of friction inevitably but I put out plenty of food so they seem to be managing. I feed suet pellets via a 'tube' feeder and also via a metal mesh feeder and some end up on the ground and much liked by the blackbirds and they hoover up dropped One of the blackbirds at least has worked out it can stand on a tall hedge branch and grab a suet pellet or two from the tube feeder. They say that blackbirds like apples but I find this only applies in the most extreme of cold snowy weather such as we really haven't had this year. They hoover up dropped sunflower seeds (the shelled type) but distinctly prefer the kibbled type.

Blue Tits and Great Tits, always some around, both use the metal mesh suet pellet feeder and are not put off by the more aggressive sparrows as they just dart in and out before Mr or Mrs Sparrow thinks of giving them a peck. They also seem to dart into the tube suet pellet feeder and the kibbled sunflower seed feeders.

See a female chaffinch regularly but never a male so far this winter.

Occasionally see a black cap male but regularly see a black cap female. She has got the hang of the metal mesh suet pellet feeder and is unfazed by the sparrows.

Starlings. I absolutely love them, such beautiful and fascinating birds, even if very aggressive. Just as well I do as they cost me a fortune in food particularly in suet pellets!

I'm currently seeing a thrush - it too is after the suet pellets but only picks them up from the ground. Sadly I see a thrush only during the winter months and only if I happen to look out of the window at the right moment.

Collared Doves. Pity that they have such a taste for hulled sunflower seeds! Fortunately I've discovered that serving the kibbled version means they take longer to get through it. They are there every morning waiting and casting annoyed looks towards the house if I don't get out early enough.

Wood Pigeons. Ditto re: tastes but very variable numbers. Some days see none, some days two or three hanging around.

Feral Pigeons. Mostly they don't visit, probably because I don't serve McDonald's and such like but occasionally one or two will be around for a few days but then disappear again, perhaps bored by the healthy wholefood diet!

Sparrowhawks do make the occasional kill in my garden. I don't like it, softy that I am, but they have a right to eat too and I try to take their visits as a sign of success odd though it may sound. When I moved in here it was new terraced housing development on a brownfield site and there were no birds, no insects apart from flies and spiders, no squirrels, frankly it was dead. No sparrowhawk could have survived here then.

In the occasional bad winter I get other visitors but not cold enough and no really significant snow here this year. Overhead, this being Bedfordshire with its many bodies of water, you regularly get geese, ducks and swans flying to try out somewhere new.

Once upon a time in summer the sky was full of swallows and swifts. There were swifts last summer - a handful of them - there just aren't enough insects any more plus issues over lack of nesting sites.

[UncleEbenezer]

No bird table here, but my big bay window from the bedroom looks down on next door's. They have a cage for bird food, hanging over the void[1] from a shiny and precarious-looking metal arm, doubtless designed to keep it out of reach of the cat.

T'other morning I looked out to see several squirrels playing. This is not unusual, though these seemed particularly active.
One of them proceeded to whizz across my railing over to the neighbours, then jumped up onto the metal arm, looking down on the bird food from a precarious vantage point. It then carefully climbed down, holding onto the cage, which was by now swinging vigorously. It then tried and failed to open the cage to get in. I didn't see whether it succeeded in having a nibble, but it soon thought better of it and scrambled back onto the arm, and thence back down to the comfort zone.

[1] That is to say, in front of the railings of their decking. Since we're on a steep hill, it's a big drop down.

[EssDeeAitch]

Long tailed Tit! First viewing for me today. Hope there is more to come, lovely little things.

[jackdaww]

40 years ago in west wales, greenfinches and yellow hammers were plentiful .

now we have none.

quite a few chaffinches though and many goldfinches .

[bungeejumper]

T'other morning I looked out to see several squirrels playing. This is not unusual, though these seemed particularly active. One of them proceeded to whizz across my railing over to the neighbours, then jumped up onto the metal arm, looking down on the bird food from a precarious vantage point. It then carefully climbed down, holding onto the cage, which was by now swinging vigorously. It then tried and failed to open the cage to get in. I didn't see whether it succeeded in having a nibble, but it soon thought better of it and scrambled back onto the arm, and thence back down to the comfort zone.

No great squirrel fan here - well, not greys, anyway - but despite myself, I've got to give them credit for being inventive and intelligent. I hang my bird nut feeders from a tree by a wire that's getting on for three feet long, so as to ensure that four-footed marauders can't possibly climb down it. But this year I've been proved wrong.

The little grey varmint in question tried to reach the nut feeder by hanging upside down with just his back feet holding onto the supporting branch. He failed - it was too far to stretch. Round One to Bungee..

Then he thought about it, and clearly realised that if he let go with his back feet and slithered the whole three feet down the slippery wire, free-style, he'd be able to get within gnashing distance of the nut feeder. This he proceeded to do. One-All.

Alas, his little teeth couldn't get through the mesh on the feeder, and since he was hanging upside down he couldn't get much leverage going. He gave up. Bungee 2, tree rat 1

Half an hour later he was back, having had time to hatch a plan. He slid down the wire freestyle (taking particular care to protect his little nuts), clambered onto the side of the nut feeder, and didn't even attempt to bite the mesh. Instead, he did a circus trapeze act on the feeder, tipping it to a crazy angle and shaking his little booty for all he was worth.

Then he dropped off the feeder, fell down to the ground, and spent the next ten minutes hoovering up all the bits of nuts that he'd shaken loose from the feeder. The little bastard had mastered Newton's laws of dynamics, Archimedes's laws of leverage and motion, and Darwin's laws of survival and adaptation. While also sidestepping the usual human assumption that the only way he could approach food would be simply to try and eat it.

This one could plan ahead. I've seen many, many humans who couldn't have mustered that level of intelligence or inventiveness. Game, set and match to the varmint.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

40 years ago in west wales, greenfinches and yellow hammers were plentiful . now we have none. quite a few chaffinches though and many goldfinches .

Effing jackdaws keep falling down our chimney and dropping fifty feet down into the fireplace in the office, whereupon they try to fly out of the windows and break stuff with their horrible sooty feathers until we can catch them and let them go through the front door.

We've had two in the last week. They seem to think it's fun. Any chance you can have a word with their mum?

BJ

[kiloran]

Alas, his little teeth couldn't get through the mesh on the feeder, and since he was hanging upside down he couldn't get much leverage going. He gave up. Bungee 2, tree rat 1
BJ

I'm surprised. We once had a "squirrel-proof" feeder a bit like this: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/56/63/1c56 ... bb8e52.jpg
It was a mild steel cylinder about 1.5mm thick, suspended from an apple tree. The squirrels chewed through the mild steel and made a real mess of it.

Brilliantly clever animals

--kiloran

[tjh290633]

Alas, his little teeth couldn't get through the mesh on the feeder, and since he was hanging upside down he couldn't get much leverage going. He gave up. Bungee 2, tree rat 1
BJ

I'm surprised. We once had a "squirrel-proof" feeder a bit like this: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/56/63/1c56 ... bb8e52.jpg
It was a mild steel cylinder about 1.5mm thick, suspended from an apple tree. The squirrels chewed through the mild steel and made a real mess of it.

Brilliantly clever animals

--kiloran

I have a tubular stainless steel feeder with holes all over and that seems to have defeated the squirrels. They demolished a wire mesh one by chewing through the wire.

I think that I got it from a Notcutts Garden Centre on the Henley road south of Oxford.

TJH

[bungeejumper]

I'm surprised. We once had a "squirrel-proof" feeder a bit like this: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/56/63/1c56 ... bb8e52.jpg
It was a mild steel cylinder about 1.5mm thick, suspended from an apple tree. The squirrels chewed through the mild steel and made a real mess of it.

Rodents never cease to amaze me. During one camping holiday, we woke up one morning to find that a mouse had tried to chew through a wine bottle. He'd made it through the foil cap and had found that the only thing remaining between him and the nice fruity-smelling cork was a quarter of an inch of glass. So.….

We found his little teeth marks in the glass. Whereas, if he'd had the intellect of a squirrel, he'd have found his way to the end of the bottle where the cork was.

BJ

[Slarti]

I'm surprised. We once had a "squirrel-proof" feeder a bit like this: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/56/63/1c56 ... bb8e52.jpg
It was a mild steel cylinder about 1.5mm thick, suspended from an apple tree. The squirrels chewed through the mild steel and made a real mess of it.

I've found that feeder cages like the one in the top left picture, here https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/bird-feeders/ work very well.

Slarti

[kiloran]

I'm surprised. We once had a "squirrel-proof" feeder a bit like this: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1c/56/63/1c56 ... bb8e52.jpg
It was a mild steel cylinder about 1.5mm thick, suspended from an apple tree. The squirrels chewed through the mild steel and made a real mess of it.

I've found that feeder cages like the one in the top left picture, here https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/bird-feeders/ work very well.

Slarti

Not proof against our squirrels! They shinned up the pole and ultimately chewed their way in

I put an upturned plastic flower pot on the pole and that deterred them for a couple of years, then they finally chewed through the base of that.
We're currently using one of these https://www.gardman.co.uk/wild-bird-car ... affle.html (ridiculous price for a piece of perspex but we got it for £12 in a sale) and so far it's beaten the squirrels, though they are VERY persistent in trying to get around it.

Great amusement value as we watch them calculating ways to beat it

We did find this https://www.gardenwildlifedirect.co.uk/ ... eeder.html totally effective when suspended from a branch

--kiloran