Come and get it
Good seed
This is really not a great photograph, but it is pictorial proof that, after too long a gestation period, my first bird feeder is now up in the new garden. The 12-port food court. It went up last night, suspended from the branch of a small pear tree by some very thick cord I found at Homebase, at approximately 1800 hrs. And although this event is not pictured, two blue tits became its first visitors at 1143 this morning. The adventure begins.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:00 PM
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9 Comments:
Glad to hear your feeders are up and running! Have you seen any other wildlife in your garden yet?
Andrew
Nice feeder! How long does the food in a a 12-porter last? Here in rural Cheshire I have to fill my 4 port mixed seed feeders every 2 days during the autumn and winter - although the niger and peanut ones last for longer. Last Spring we had rooks (!) taking mixed seed, which meant the feeders were emptied in about 15 minutes. Knowing how bright rooks are, I imagine they'll soon be back for more.
On the whole I prefer to feed (and watch) the smaller birds, and get a bit protective of the tits and sparrows when the big boys turn up. I assume (no doubt erroneously) that the corvids can look after themselves better when the going gets tough, and I slightly resent them nicking all the food. In reality, it's probably every bird for itself during the winter!
At the old house, where squirrels had colonised all three feeders, I'd usually have to replenish on a weekly basis. The parrots used to really give them a good seeing to come late afternoon, which was a glorious, green sight! Obviously the local bird population have yet to fully discover the new 12-port in town, but so far I've had blue tits, great tits, a wren and a robin. There's a jay knocking around too, and pigeons. Nice butterflies in the new, smaller garden too. (I also like the smaller birds, Chris, but you just can't control nature can you? You have to step back and let it take its course.)
Andrew
Just wondered if you'd seen the piece in a recent 'Guardian' about the 'missing' flock of 6000 (or have I misremembered this number - it seems v. big) parakeets? They apparently used to roost at Esher Rugby Club, but no longer do so! Perhaps they've heard, (on the grapevine of course), about a new 12 port seed feeder, somewhere in central London?
Saw the parakeets article, Chris. And it was 6,000 of them. I once came into Redhill on the train and suddenly saw the skies alive with parakeets. It must have been the Esher flock. An amazing sight. I'm sure they know what they're doing, wherever they are. Animals and birds usually do.
Andrew do you have any recommendations as to books that might tell me what the very lovely birds who visit my own feeder on a daily basis actually are? You know, something with pictures of them so I can actually match them up! I know we get a lot of sparrows, a multitude of magpies, some tits and a couple of big fat wood pigeons but there have been quite a few smaller birds that I haven't recognised. You seem to know your stuff, and I just wondered if you'd got a guidebook of any sort you could recommend...
What a great question, Sue! I swear by the Larousse Field Guide To Birds Of Britain And Ireland. It has lovely illustrations, one bird to a page, and all the information. I also love the Collins Bird Guide, handily enough, which comes in small, paperback form and large hardback. Even the small one is heavy though, and crams a lot more species on a page. So the Larousse would be my first choice. It rarely lets me down in the garden.
Sue - the Collins Bird Guide, which, despite its title, is one of a few books not actually written by Andrew, is really good but you could also try the RSPB website, which has lots of useful information and is offering a free guide to Garden Birds at the moment. Depending on where your garden is, the following less immediately familiar species could easily turn up on your feeder: finches (goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch, siskin, lesser redpoll), great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, tree sparrow, tits (coal, long-tailed, marsh) and various marauders (jay, jackdaw, rook, ring-necked parakeet).
Hope this helps (sorry to hijack your question, Andrew!)
Thank you Andrew and Chris. The Larousse and Collins (no relation) will be added to my Amazon wishlist and I'm hoping that some nice relative will buy me at least one of them for Christmas. Actually I have a feeling that my dad used to have an old copy of the Collins one, and I know that used to be a good one because we spent many a happy hour when I were a lass sat in front of the dining room windows matching up the birds on the birdtable to those in the book. Cheers, chaps!
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