Hobbies and Crafts

All I want for Xmas is.......some birds in the garden.

All I have seen today is 1 collared dove. I am totally flummoxed as to why they have deserted us. As far as I am aware nothing has changed round here. Now even the mealworms aren’t being eaten. I put some in a ground feeder with a cage thing over it which only lets in smaller birds like robins and some in a flat dish on a table for the blackbirds and starlings. Usually even if I don’t see birds I know they are there because the lot will be cleared quite quickly. I put my usual amount out on Saturday afternoon and they are still there nearly 48 hours later :-S

We put a small feeder full of mealie worms on the apple tree on Monday, by yesterday afternoon it was empty because the starlings found it. Although the great tits were at it as well. we have had a lot of birds the past few days, Blue and Great Tits, starlings, blackbirds, male and female, robin, goldfinches (6 at one time), Collard doves and woodies.

I don’t think the seeds are being eaten at all Ann. I am only filling the feeder about a third full and it doesn’t look as though the level has gone down at all. The birds used to empty it quickly and I would refill it every morning. I am still using the same make of seeds so I haven’t made any changes there. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope they come back sometime.

Are they not going down at all not even a little bit? If they are they may be feeding at first light maybe before you are up. If you can keep just a small amount there they may eventually return.

I always used to do it but I don’t fancy staring out of the window for an hour and then reporting that I have seen 2 pigeons. The birds seem to have deserted us completely. Fat balls and peanuts are going down very, very slowly and the seeds aren’t being touched at all. Every so often I dispose of them and put a few fresh ones out but I think I am wasting my time :-( :-(

Thanks LG every time I register to do it our birds all pack their bags and go on holiday. :-D

Just had an email to register for January Big Garden Bird Watch with RSPB. Register is open from 11th December for anyone who is interested. I will be doing it as always

Pleased to say the birds are returning we have two blackbirds and a robin visiting the mealie worms and on the seeds and fat balls etc, we have had starlings, blue and great tits, gold finches, long tailed tits and sparrows. And a dunnock and wren routing around the borders.

Still not a lot of bird life around but there was a bluetit on the peanuts this morning and a few blackbirds. Earlier in the year I used to put any left over cake crumbs, bits of fruit etc. on a large saucer shaped dish on a garden table and several birds used to come to that including a couple of thrushes. Yesterday I had some stale cake left so crumbled it up with some added sultanas. Then it got rained on so it was a gloopy mess but blackbirds have cleared it. I am not sure if it is one bird who keeps coming back or several birds but they seemed to enjoy it.

However, the best thing today was a jay which flew in and sat on the fence for a couple of minutes before flying off across the garden so at least I know there are some birds around :-)

That's lovely, Ann. Good to know they are returning and are able to replenish their food reserve.

Still very few birds around here. I have seen a robin in the garden a couple of times, that's all.
Even the seagulls, which are almost constantly on the roof tops seem to have left us.I did see one yesterday though, on the grass verge across the road. It was doing it's 'rain dance' stamping up and down on the grass to make worms appear. They look so comical, when they do that, especially when there's a whole flock of them on the school playing field.

In the past few days but not all at once we have had visiting the garden. Blue and great tits, a coal tit, one Goldfinch, a wren, a blackbird, collard doves, 2 magpies and a few sparrows and I think i did see a starling. So the birds are beginning to return slowly. The blue and great tits like the coconut and the magpies are after the fat balls.

No birds here either except collard doves a few sparrows and blue tots.

Still not many birds around but I have seen a few blackbirds and there were a couple of sparrows on the fat balls earlier. I decided to top up the peanuts and the fat balls and put out a seed feeder again and see what happens. If you remember something was knocking all the seeds from the feeder on to the ground but leaving the feeder intact on the tree so I stopped putting it out. I'm waiting to see what will happen now.

Wonder where they find their food when it is windy. Not in our garden that is for sure. They must be able to survive without for a short time.

Only once, many years ago, have I seen a nuthatch on the tree in this garden. I'd never seen one before.
We used to regularly see different woodpeckers, but haven't seen them for some time either.

Very few birds about today. It's absolutely wild out there..... we had weather warning about high winds and boy is it blowing.
All the birds must be sheltering.

I am pretty certain I have never seen one from the description. Thanks LG.

The Nuthatch is a similar build to a wren but blue in colour with a rust coloured breast and black markings on it's head, A very pretty little bird which I have only seen a few times before when I lived at home

Blackbirds and a robin have now returned to our garden. No doubt the starlings will be back soon as well. Blue and great tits are feeding and three collard doves.
We have never seen a nuthatch in the garden. Mind you I would have to look it up if there was one as I haven't a clue what it would look like.

The feeders are on a metal pole but it still shins up it, well tries now :-D :-D :-D. They are not touching the suet feeds at all but still going for peanuts,mealworms and seed. I am lacking the thrushes and blackbirds but all the others seem present and correct.

Lucky you LaGooner. I've never seen a nuthatch in this country though I have seen one in the Netherlands. I laughed at your Vaseline smeared pole. I haven't seen any squirrels here but we used to get them in our old house and one of the things OH did was to attach a bird table to the top of a stainless steel pole. You should have seen the surprised look on their faces when they couldn't get a grip on it.

I filled the feeder that takes suet balls a couple of days ago and that's hardly been touched and yesterday I put mealworms in the ground feeder and they are still there. All I have seen today are a couple of pigeons and one bluetit on the peanuts. We are definitely a bird free zone lately :-( OH wondered if all the new house building going on around here has destroyed some of their habitats. I shall just have to hope they reappear at some stage.