General Chat

I have a fair number of birds visiting and feeding and to my delight i saw two goldfinch today. I feed them with a mixture of porage oats and vegetable oil in a very dry mix, a kilo lasts two to three days. I got the idea from a question some while ago as to what do you do with the oil from your deep fat fryer and the answer was given to use it for bird food with porage oats. I buy peanuts and bird seed in bulk because it is far cheaper than small packets etc from the shops. The crows keep the magpies at bay but they are nearly as bad for taking the young chicks. I live in Warrington. Brian (i)

How does that work Brian? Surely the fat stays liquid? Or am I being daft?

I'm lucky to have loads of birds in the garden, especially as I live near London. Have a bit of trouble with squirrels swiping what bird food they can get, ducks making themselves comfortable on the pond and a marauding sparrowhawk, but all that aside, a pair of great spotted woodpeckers devour the peanuts and green woodpeckers devour the ants! Long tailed tits, great tits, blue tits and greenfinches love the sunflower seeds. Magpies, crows and wood pigeons are a bit of a problem, greedy so and so's that they are! Bev x PS I love your threads Harry!

Hi. 'Pink'. I use a plastic container and pour the oil over the oats and shake it about to mix. I use just enough to make it a 'dry mix' ie it still pours like dry oats but rather oily, using the cheapest oil from ASDA. The birds appear to thrive on it. As I say they go through some two to three kilos a week. Can be messy in really wet weather if they don't eat it fast enough. Brian (i)

It is essential to keep the bird feeding area clean. If it goes 'sour' then diseases will soon start taking effect. I power-wash once a month or when needed. There should be no food left on a table overnight because the rats will take it. I wouldn't leave food on the ground for the same reason. Brian (i)

Thanks Brian.... I think I need a proper feeder that i can hang as don't like to give CLicquot ammunition even if she is slow these days!! xx

Ahh lovely thread :) We were in a garden centre beside Scotch Corner last Tuesday and in the green houses were 2 robins happily feeding and allowing us 'umans' to get very close. They had such beautiful songs...lovely to see. Yesturday there was a female Pheasant in our garden she looked a bit confused and dazed, think she was blown in on the wind Anita xx

I've spoken to the birds in my garden and asked them to fertilise my lawn (what I call the patch of grass out the back) but they seem to think my car is more in need of nourishment. Is it that they think red cars are more in need of nutrition? Len p.s. I hate it in the blackberry season - they all get diarrhoea (not many people can spell that.)

Well I don't know whats wrong with our area we have 4 crows 2 magpies and a few starlings oh and a couple of pigeons not even a sparrow so whats happened to the thrushes, blackbirds, robins, wrens etc etc moved here 3yr ago from a busy main road in Leeds where we had loads of birds and our bird bath has only be used about twice that I know of! Norah

Following this theme can anyone recommend a site with good pictures of birds .............. I had a couple of visitors last year that I just didn't recognise ......... :-))))))))))))))))))))

RSPB site is excellent all birds A-Z thanks for your birdie threads Harry its a delight to read everyone's nature trails dropped a pile of niger seed in the week - instead of the usual 3-4 goldfinches on the feeder - now 8-10 on the floor. chaffinches and greenfinches seem to be increasing every year but less and less sparrows. lots of other species too. Spring is definitely in the air. Dorothy ps naughty magpie killed off young collared doves this week - they are already looking to renest tho'

I wondered if any of you birdlovers have had a look at www.Hancockhouse*com * A webcam has been fitted so that it shows close-ups of an eagle sitting on 2 eggs which are due to hatch later on this month. This is on Hornby Island, Canada. There is also a forum to join in. I have found it really enjoyable. Norah

Many thanks for the lovely latest batch of replies. I am quite envious. Mea, Can,t tell you too much about your woodpecker/ metal chimney cover. Several obvious reasons maybe - sharpening beak or breaking food open (they do visit bird tables in spring). Would think you might have insects up there - ants possibly; but by far the most likely is that it is some courting ritual - the sound carries for great distances - and I do mean a long way ,many hundred yards. Nice to hear from you. best wishes Happy days

Hi Norah, have been & had a look at the Bald Eagles. How fantasic, now hooked & will watch untill chicks hatch & have flown. Anybody else interested, go & have a look. Hilary.

Hello Hilary, Thanks for that. I too am hooked. It really is a wonderdul site isn't it, and when the chicks arrive, will be even more interesting. Norah

We have had wrens, thrushes, blackbirds, coal tits, two robins, wood pigeons and collared doves in the garden today ! The way the blackbirds are going there are going to be plenty of eggs in the nest this year !

We have all the usual garden birds, Wrens robins, songthrushes, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, greenfinches, chaffinches and so on, but never any sparrows or starlings, though there are plenty of them a couple of hundred yards down the road.We live next to a small wood, and there are Jays, Magpies, woodpigeons and collared doves, woodpeckers and an owl. Just arrived this week are the blackcaps and chiffchaffs. Not bad for just about central Norwich. T x

Harry This thread is brill and I thank you. Today we had a Warbler in our garden, not sure if it was a Willow or a Chiffchaff, it flitted too quickly. We have Green Woodpeckers here and Great Spotted, also a beautful Pheasant, and that is just in our Cul-d-Sac. At the moment we have a Blue Tit that is going in and out out of the straw cacoon type thingy hubbie bought, so hopeing there, also a Blackbird is nesting in our conifer hedge. She has had a field day with all the moss in our garden, but also I brushed our long haird border collie last week and chucked the coat on the garden and that is gone also, so maybe chicks will get a really soft bed! Funniest thing though, hubbie bought a new bird table, wrought iron, 2 hangers, fat tray and bath, and got to ceramic feeders, one for seed and the other for peanuts. Pigeons now use the fat tray for landing and eat all the seed!!! they are so clumsy it is really comical to watch! Kim

What lovely replies. Many thanks. I am fortunate in having a big garden, but my town is getting to be just a mass of high rise 1 and 2 bedroom apartment blocks, with no gardens other than a relatively small communal one. Seems a shame that the occupants will miss out on one of the simple pleasures in life.( and gardening and gardens as well) Happy days

Something for gardners to think about, don't cut down your hedging plants till the birds have nested. There was another post a few days ago on which someone mentioned they were getting rid of their conifers. One of our neighbours has loads of sparrows and dunnocks nesting in their conifers. So do try to wait for another couple of months at least. Re magpies, I saw a thrush fly on to our patio with an egg in its beak which it proceeded to smash and eat. The egg was bluish green and spotted so maby a robin or dove?? Have started feeding meal worm with the seeds and they are being polished off. We have most of the usual birds here in Chester but have never had a wood pecker which would be wonderful.