General Chat

We only have glaucus gulls,they are massive and can well look after themselves.We have a plague of them Rose

LAST YEAR WE MOVED TO OUR OWN HOUSE AFTER LIVING IN A APARTMENT I LOVED FEEDING THE BIRDS I WOULD SIT THERE AND WATCH BUT THIS YEAR I CANT FEED THEM AS WE KEEP GETTING RATS WE LIVE NEAR THE COUNTRYSIDE THIS HAS REALY UPSET ME WE HAVE HAD PEST CONTROL A FEW TIMES BUT HE TOLD ME NOT TO FEED THE BIRDS I AM SURE THEY ARE COMMING BACK TO MY GARDEN FROM LAST YEAR LOOKING FOR THE BIRDTABLE AND FEEDER

Just been out with some left over ham and checked the water. When l make the bird mixture l don't add melted fat - l use: Digestive biscuits Suet (shredded) Bread Porridge Oats Cheese Birds Pea Nuts Birds seed ( l now buy seperate packs of different seeds!!) Bung it all in the mixer and feed it to the birds as a dry mixture. l also get the fruit and insect feed for song birds, this l usually sprinkle on the table. They have bought fat balls as well. My neighbours threw out an old small bird table on Wednesday - guess who's got it now!!!!! - yehhhhh me. One of the 3 legs is rotten but otherwise its in good nick and will be great for the smaller birds:o)))))) jude sarf wales

welcome :)..:):)

Thanks Terence...Bev

most house food is good for them..also wild bird seed...dry bread..breakfast scraps..:):)..different birds will eat differently..starlings will eat owt...good things for nesting...dog hair..hay..straw..wool..bits of string..

Okay I have been reading all the messages but am now confused as to what is best for the birds! Can you give me some tips on food/stuff to leave out for their nests etc. Thanks Bev x

i didnt know that buttercup...maybe some have escaped..i think they soon find each other in wild...and birds being birds..will multiply:):)

But seriously Terence the Bird man... There are parakeets in Hyde Park....Where have they come from? Someone said they were bought for the film The African Queen and they let them go when the film was finished. There are HUNDREDS all over London. BC

you can always tell when anything bad for them is around...:):)

blackbirds often sing just as getting light..and always first birds looking for food:)...i have even put outside light on for them:)..this year there are so many...my fave birds:)

I think one of the joys of watching the birds(again preferably on the ground) is watching the pecking order, and see which birds will wait for another. I peg mine in just about 6 feet from the living room window. The blackbird takes preference over the smaller birds, but will often retire if about half a dozen sparrows arrive. The robins happily feed with the sparrows. Has anyone tried the transparent feeders which apparently attaches to your window - if it works it seems ideal? Happy days

Ever heard a Robin singing before it is light in the mornings? - Wonderful! I think I am right when I say that Nightingales are the only other birds to sing when it's dark - but will stand corrected! Magsxx

I have assorted feeders on poles about 4ft from my kitchen window and love watching all the different birds feeding. I use the mixed seed from the RSPB - and notice a lot of the birds, particularly the tits, take a sunflower seed and fly off to a nearby tree. There they hold it on the branch with their feet and open the shell. Strikes me as a lot of wasted energy for them, especially at this time of year - so have decided my next lot of mixed seeds will be the kind without shells/husks. OK its more expensive - but is it? After all, buying it the other way means you are also paying for useless shell cases. lol There are a lot of birds who prefer to feed on the ground, some cant even cope with getting on to the hanging feeders. I had great laughs at a blackbird last year that was trying to feed from a square fat holder - he eventually managed it tho. But a table is good for ground feeders too and i now have one of those as well and it is usually visited by the blackbirds and robins. Sparrows like the ground too and quite often when i go outside, i frighten off half a dozen or more who were feeding underneath the hanging feeders, but i couldnt see them from my window. Sue PS - does anyone else get annoyed when watching Eastenders and hear a blackbird singing in the background - no matter what time of year!?!?! lol

behave here sue..:):)

paul- no wonder i feel stressed, all that responsibility ! must admit, i do have a bird book on the kitchen windowsill, to try and name any i dont recognise.

did you realise how many british birds we can care for Barn Owl Blackbird Blackcap Black-headed Gull Black Redstart Blue Tit Brambling Bullfinch Buzzard Carrion Crow Chaffinch Chiffchaff Coal Tit Collared Dove Common Gull Coot Crested Tit Crossbill Cuckoo Dunnock Feral Pigeon Fieldfare Garden Warbler Goldcrest Goldfinch Goshawk Great Black-backed Gull Great Spotted Woodpecker Great Tit Greenfinch Green Woodpecker Grey Heron Grey Partridge Grey Wagtail Hawfinch Herring Gull Hoopoe House Martin House Sparrow Jackdaw Jay Kestrel Kingfisher Lapwing Lesser Black-backed Gull Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Lesser Whitethroat Linnet Little Owl Long-eared Owl Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Marsh Tit Meadow Pipit Mistle Thrush Moorhen Nightingale Nuthatch Peregrine Pheasant Pied Flycatcher Pied Wagtail Quail Raven Red Kite Red-legged Partridge Redpoll Redstart Redwing Reed Bunting Ring-necked Parakeet Robin Rook Sand Martin Serin Short-eared Owl Siskin Skylark Song Thrush Sparrowhawk Spotted Flycatcher Starling Stock Dove Stonechat Swallow Swift Tawny Owl Treecreeper Tree Sparrow Turtle Dove Waxwing Whinchat Whitethroat Willow Tit Willow Warbler Wood Pigeon Wren Yellow Wagtail Yellowhammer Paul

this is the third year running that we have had 2 pairs of doves too. lovely things ! last year , we found one of their nests in the garden with a very fat chick sat in it , the rspca advesed us to pop it back in the tree and watch ! we were thrilled when [ after inspecting for ages] they finally returned to the chick ! i hope they build their nests a bit better this year- trouble is the conifers really do need a trim, but i wont let hubby do 'em ! sue.

thank you everyone for all the info...much apreciated...birds to make life cheerfull...cant beat being woken by a blackbird singing at dawn:):)

Harry - I'm confused by the robin thing too - we seem to have two pairs - at least there were two feeding and two sitting on the Berberis waiting for their turn - odd that. The robins have their own regular perch - better not prune that little branch! Some of our feeders are wedged in between branches and tied on - that way whoever wants a feed in comfort can! lol We have a free standing hanger too - on a pole with hooks for putting the feeders on and a regular bird table. All mod cons! They take no notice of our cat at all - who sometimes lays under the tree - but do they get their own back! Bombs away! lol I like the idea of ground feeding too - but we put food on the garage roof perhaps that serves as well - hope so. Magsxx