Feeding the birds

mellman01
mellman01 Member Posts: 5,306
edited 29. Nov 2009, 23:06 in Community Chit-chat archive
Hi all who on here feeds the birds in the winter?, it's just that it's that time of year to keep our little dinosaur freinds fat and happy(nope the KT impact didn't kill them all) as the food supply out there dwindles.
So what birds do you get in your gardens, and what's the most impresive types, the most striking birds down here are sparrow hawks and red kites and buzards, we have loads of red kites here there everywhere, they even fly with my planes when I'm out flying a really great sight.
They crop the grass opposite our house once a year and as soon as they do the sky is filled with kites and buzards hunting the mice there.

Comments

  • debatat
    debatat Member Posts: 659
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi, I love to watch the birds. I feed the birds all year round. We live by a park in an area with a lot of trees, so get a lot of birds. I don't know the names of a lot of them, so have bought a book. We get herons, woodpeckers, mistlethrushes, chaffinches, greattits, as well as the usual. We have a family of squirrels as well.

    I consider it to be a positive of arthritis, before arthur, I never had time. Now on a bad day it is something else to focus on other than my aches and pains!!

    Deb x
  • mellman01
    mellman01 Member Posts: 5,306
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Deb's I'm with you OA and age has made me so much more aware of things around me, the great web of life is so dynamic, man wont destroy it all he will simply evict himself in the end then it will be the turn of some other species to take the top spot and so it will go on.
  • debatat
    debatat Member Posts: 659
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    You must live in a really cool place to see so many unusual species. It is interesting. They are so fascinating to watch, the boys enjoy it as well. Do you feed them the usual food?

    Deb x
  • joyful164
    joyful164 Member Posts: 2,401
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    We have always encouraged the birds and have placed feeders on places where we can watch from our kitchen.
    It's lovely watching them while we have breakfast.

    We bought some very large bags of seeds from Aldi's last year and they got used up very quickly. We also save up all the fat from the cooking, collect it in a basin and then add the stale bread,cheese etc into it and the bigger birds love that. We had a greenfinch on the feeder this morning. At long last the robin has appeared. Haven't seen one for ages. They are getting rare around here. I love to hear them singing at first light

    Is there anyone here who is an Autumnwatch/Springwatch addict?
    I think it is an amazing show.

    joy
  • mellman01
    mellman01 Member Posts: 5,306
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    debatat wrote:
    You must live in a really cool place to see so many unusual species. It is interesting. They are so fascinating to watch, the boys enjoy it as well. Do you feed them the usual food?

    Deb x
    No I don't feed the raptors it's against the law for one thing but I know people who do, over in Ipsden there's a chap that does and you can alway's see 5 or 6 floating about there really low.
    One problem is with poisoning we have had an increase of casses here. But the reason why we have so many is we live about 15 miles from the UK realease site in Watlington, spring is the best time as it's breading time and you can see them stacked up up in thermals calling out for a mate it's not uncommon to see 8 or 10 in one go.
    Oh what do you guy's feed your garden birds?. I use mixed seads and sun flower seads I also use chopped peanuts but only in winter as they say it's not good for chicks as they can chock on them.
  • robertls
    robertls Member Posts: 2,304
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I've got 1 feeder with thistle seeds...........Goldfinches love them....one or 2 each day feed......later on get as manny as 20.
    2 with mixed corn....same **** I use for chickens........chaffinch, and grrenfinches been onn that today...
    A flat tray with mixed corn brings in Collared doves.

    Peanut feeder gets 'tits'......blue and great......and Greater Spotted Woodpecker...

    ALso get usual........Robins........aggreessive little sods them...
    Blackbirds, Mistle and song Thrushes..

    And loads of other 'little brown jobbies'..

    Sparrow hawk lives inn Connifers over the road......

    Gives all the little birds a hard time.................but he's only tryinng to survive......and such a dashing character....have to admire him/she.

    Rob x
    Roba045.gif
  • annie_mial
    annie_mial Member Posts: 5,614
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    I feed the birds - we get all the usual ones, blue tits, great tits, all the finches, song birds - thrushes, robins, blackbirds, and because we're so close to the river we get wagtails both yellow and pied, then there's the wrens and the dunnocks.
    On the river we have a resident heron, mallard ducks (they somtimes waddle up for some bread and I can hand feed them) canada geese, swans, kingfishers; I can't remember the names of any more, I'm sure there's some I've missed.
    Over the river are kestrels and those perishing green parakeets. We've also got the usual starlings, magpies and owls, and that red-crested one whose name has escaped me.
    I'm going to miss all these next year, because I bet our new garden doesn't have such a diversity of birds.
    I put feeders out, have to put them high or the foxes take them. If it gets very cold, I put bread and scraps out, but take what's left in at night.

    Annie - who seems to have completely lost her memory as soon as she started this post.
  • mellman01
    mellman01 Member Posts: 5,306
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Anie you must have the most diverse mix on here,why don't you like them old parakets then??.
    Oh one thing I'd love to know is has anyone on here seen one of the breading pairs of eagle owl's that are said to inhabit thisover crowded country???

    PS rehab same same for me I don't feed all year round now I use to but I'm getting tight in me old age!.
  • annie_mial
    annie_mial Member Posts: 5,614
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    mellman01 wrote:
    Anie you must have the most diverse mix on here,why don't you like them old parakets then??.
    Oh one thing I'd love to know is has anyone on here seen one of the breading pairs of eagle owl's that are said to inhabit thisover crowded country???

    PS rehab same same for me I don't feed all year round now I use to but I'm getting tight in me old age!.

    Hi Mell, hope you're having a good day.
    Parakeets - the noise they make is unbelieveable (think chopper takeoff)and I have seen them completely strip a sweet chestnut tree of it's buds. They also prey on other nests. Apart from the fact that they are quite amazingly green, they give nothing back! I forgot (how could I) that we also have the rooks and crows.
    We are at the foot of the Downs and in a river valley, so we do get a very wide mixture - all the predators and carrion eaters, of course, as this is sheep country to a certain extent and where there's sheep there's usually the odd carcase or several.

    I don't feed the birds all year round and never have - I'm sure the young ones begin to rely on you and won't find for themselves. I stop end of May and start in November.

    Annie
  • debatat
    debatat Member Posts: 659
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Mellman, I feed the birds peanuts, mixed bird seed and I get a mix of robin bird seed for the robins. I buy fat balls, half coconuts and suet treats. Ther suet treats used to be as well as the half coconts the only thing the squirrels wouldn't eat. They do now though!! :shock:

    I didnt know it was against the law to feed buzzards and red hawks. :roll: I have learn't something today!!

    Saw a bird in the garden today I have never seen before, will have to try and find out what it was. It had an unusual tail and a dirty red/brown chest, it was the size of a thrush. Wonder what it was.

    Deb x
  • trisher
    trisher Member Posts: 9,263
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi


    I feed the birds though winter, and the summer. Last winter we had robins, they stayed nearly all year.Other birds as well. Over the years though the birds do not come here a lot.

    In winter we make fat balls. Alo we put mince out mixed we bird seed.

    We were lucky last year a bird made a nest in our shed, and laid eggs, and had 4 chicks, we watched them grow up and fly away in the end.

    trish xx
  • skezier
    skezier Member Posts: 11,333
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Mel,

    I feed the ones here all year round and the usual stuff like seed, peanuts (not in spring) fat balls, then in addition they help them selves to the chicken corn.layers and sometimes the mash if they are small enough. I also got huge amounts of berries cus the hedges are covered in hawthorn and blackthorn.

    We get so many different types of bird here, the smallest being the wrens and the largest the buzzards. Swallows have left but the red wings and field stars are here in force at the mo. They love the soggy fields cus they can get the worms out better. The Robbins are getting very persistent as are the herring gulls and there are 2 different 'sets' of owls but as yet my trees have been too bleak for them to nest in but I do live in hope one day they might honor me.

    Very lucky cus I get tons of blackbirds and thrushes (both mistle and song) as well as the visitors. Sadly I also go magpies, crows and rooks and they get some greedy! Take care Cris
  • carol101
    carol101 Member Posts: 584
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi all

    I used to feed the birds but have had to stop. I live in a rural area and get a lot of wildlife in my garden. I bet there aren't many of you who have woken up to find 8 pheasents in your garden! We also get moles, voles, mice, stoats, squirrels and unfortunately......rats.

    I live right next to the M20, the other side of the house is country and we back on to the woods. My back garden is 234ft by 50ft. When the M20 was widened a few years ago (before i lived here) they disturbed the rat runs. Every year either us or the neighbours have had to have the exterminaters out. Luckily they have never entered the house but i won't go in our garden after dark :shock:
    The other year my neighbour went to her wheelie bin to find a mother rat had given birth and they were all in the bottom of her bin, she had such a fright!

    We used to have a bird table and hang fat balls from it. We kept finding the balls on the ground, then one evening we saw it was a rat doing it so unfortunately we have stopped feeding the birds so not to encourage the rats although i must say i haven't seen any rats last year or this year.

    I don't want them back thoug :shock:

    Carol X