Tits and Blue tits would come in for the pyracantha berries. I loved to watch them, so I started to feed
them when the berries were finished so they would come back. Then more birds arrived including Green finches
and Siskins, which sadly for the last two years I have hardly seen - I think it's
due to trees being felled in neighbouring gardens for extensions.
I feed the birds a minimum twice a day, all year round. There are three feeders
in the Pyracantha with various seed mixes and peanuts. In winter I also hang peanut
cake with added insects and fruit.
I also put out "soft bill" ground food, black birds eat this all year but during
the winter black caps, robins and dunnocks love it. I put this on a mesh tray
feeder which is great and doesn't get waterlogged in the rain.
The birds go crazy for uncooked pastry, I squeeze some around the Pyracantha
braches and smaller pieces in with the ground food.
There is always disgarded seed from the silo's on the ground, the doves and
pigeons finish most this off. But there is alot of mess of shucks and bird poo
on the ground which needs sweeping most days, it will begin to smell and just isn't
nice and will lead to disease if it isn't cleaned.
Don't put out too much ground food, if it's not eaten, it will also attract vermim,
just put out enough for the birds for that day.I don't mind the odd mouse (as
long as they stay outside!) but I don't want to make the garden wildlife friendly for rats.
During spring and when there are chicks, I put out live mealworms. These are ideal as they are moist food and the young in nests can't drink. you wouldn't believe how many worms the adult birds can get in their beaks at once to take away to their young, it's quite comical watching them. When the birds take away meal worms for their young, it just seems to be a case of grabbing as many as possible and returning for another beak full. But when adults eat them, I've noticed how Great Tits eat them differently than the ground feeders. A Great Tit will take a meal worm to the buddleia then bash it against a branch a few times, holds it down with its claws before pecking at one end and pulling out its innards, eating them bit by bit. The robins, dunnocks and black birds pick up a meal worm, adjust it in their beaks then swallow it in one go head first.
Over the last few months I have started putting food out in the front garden aswell. I was surprised how fast the birds discovered the food.
There are several places for bathing and drinking - explained on the WATER page.
The important thing is, once you start to feed the birds you must carry on. They will rely on finding a food source in your garden and if they get there and find nothing, they have to waste precious energy looking for more somewhere else. This is particularly bad winter, with short feeding days and long cold nighs. Bird baths and the feeders have to be regularly cleaned to prevent disease.
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to hang the feeder and is so prickly and painful that cats can't climb into.
Planting for insects of course is of benefit to the birds, there are sawfly larvae, caterpillars to be had as well as all the other little things they find to eat including aphids.
I don't cut back flowers after flowering now, but let them produce seed - a natural food source for the winter months. Eupatorium, Malva and teasel seeds are a great hit and of course sunflower seeds. 2007 was a disaster where sunflowers were concerned for me - for the first time ever slugs got every one of them and so there were no seeds for the tits. I was so annoyed as in 2005 and 2006 we had a great spotted woodpecker that visited to eat the seeds.
If at all possible try and have tall and dense shrubs in your garden if you don't have a hedge or trees. These make good look outs for the birds deciding whether it is safe to come in and also gives them perfect bolt holes to flee to.
The image of the sparrows feeding on the Eupatorium seeds was taken through the window, so isn't so sharp. It was a great way to see them so close up though.
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