# don`t forget our feathered friends



## DTPCHEMICALS

Please try to put some food out for the birds.
seeds peanuts and fatt balls .
I don`t think bread is good for them at this time of year as it fills them up and does not give them enough energy source..

Dave p


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## sallytrafic

Don't tell me  the birds in our small garden get fed as well as me (not strictly true but you get the picture).

We've got 9 feeders on the go.


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## GypsyRose

Good post!! The birds at home don't seem grateful, lol, whatever we put out!! So.....took all our bird food away with us and when we left sites, we also left bird food......in Ulwell (Swanage) there were loads of birds flying around and there was this wonderfully friendly robin.....left them enough on the menu for a while!! :lol:


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## zappy61

*birds*

Don't forget the water as well. there were 8 in the bird bath together yesterday.

Graham


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## dovtrams

My wife feeds the birds in our garden too well in my opinion, I think more attention than I get! However, she now has a problem with a flock of Canadian Geese about 1000 strong in the back field, hopefully she is not going to buy bird food for them.

Water as well, although for the last week, water only lasts for about five minutes before it freezes, perhaps the techies can tell us how to keep the water containers from freezing.

dave


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## patnles

dovtrams said:


> My wife feeds the birds in our garden too well in my opinion, I think more attention than I get! However, she now has a problem with a flock of Canadian Geese about 1000 strong in the back field, hopefully she is not going to buy bird food for them.
> 
> Water as well, although for the last week, water only lasts for about five minutes before it freezes, perhaps the techies can tell us how to keep the water containers from freezing.
> 
> dave


Maybe some sort of pumped system. You really need to keep the water moving somehow. We have a waterfall with 2 pools going into the pond and the birds queue up around the rockery for a drink and a bath. 
Before the waterfall was created we had a metal dustbin lid and went out and poured boiling water on it twice a day to defrost it. It's best if you can do this at the same time each day as the birds come to rely on it. Obviously you need to make sure you don't scald the birdies tootsies.
We have 8 feeders out with nuts, niger seeds, black sunflower seeds, fat and fruit and it's busy all day at the feeding stations.


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## Spacerunner

I felt so strongly about this that I even invited a turkey round for Christmas dinner.  

Seriously, all the sites we,ve been on recently I've noticed that we seem to get our own adopted Robin. I'm sure they roost underneath on the chassis overnight. A bit disconcerting when kneeling down draining the waste tank and a Robin hops out from underneath and inspects your handiwork.

I have to say that I do make the ultimate sacrifice by saving all my bacon rinds, even the crispy ones, to put out for the birds.

Noticed now that the local blackbirds are forming cooperatives to dig through the snow to reach the ground underneath.


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## jimmyd0g

Talking about robins, one of our regular visitors (it's in the garden now) is much fatter / rounder than the others we see. Is it just plain greedy, or is it 'with child' already, anybody?


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## firewood

i went for awalk today in the snow and never seen any birds i was walking along country roads and on a disused airfield .any reason for this


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## trevorf

Cheapest way to buy seeds and peanuts is in 25Kg sacks. Good prices on Ebay even with delivery costs taken into account.

I boil a full kettle to put in the bird bath every morning, if the birds come too quickly they get a sauna 8O 8O 

Had a large flock of Fieldfares in the garden yesterday, I believe they are winter visitors from Norway/Sweden.



Trevor


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## Spacerunner

firewood said:


> i went for awalk today in the snow and never seen any birds i was walking along country roads and on a disused airfield .any reason for this


They're either roosted up in shelter or in everyone's back gardens having a feast.

At this time of year birds appear to feed very early in the day and last thing in the afternoon. Maybe the rest of the time they roost up to save energy.


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## peedee

There has been a decline in numbers in my garden over the years corresponding with an increase in traffic but here is a pic taken a few hours ago.

peedee


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## Hezbez

There was a poor wee blackbird the other day - dead as a doornail and still sitting upright on a wall. I think it's feet had become glued to the wall with the frost  

The other ones I am feeling sorry for are the foxes. Been seeing them a lot recently, out and about during the day. Obviously very hungry


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## DTPCHEMICALS

I had to rescue a wagtail earlier. It landed on what it thought was ice on our pond,it was slush!
Got the net out and dried the fellow off in the conservatory. He was not in a rush to leave and made friends with our cockatiels.
off to the garden centre to morrow, wevè used 30 fat balls in 3 days.
Dave p


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## MrsW

We are not only looking after the birds at the moment but also a small hedgehog which Penquin brought home from school yesterday where it was wandering round the field rather than hibernating. We will now have to look after it through the rest of the winter as it is too light in weight to withstand the winter without hibernating. Just when we are free of pets and children we have a hedgehog to mind!!


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## dannimac

Ok, but riddle me this

We've been putting out sunflower seeds and peanuts in feeders for weeks and weeks and apart from one wee robin's occasional visit, no other bird is coming near us. Why is this? I see them flying past, but not visiting our garden. And it's RSPB peanuts with none of the toxiny thingmewhotsits. And we're changing it regularly just so the wee beggars have fresh stuff to turn their noses up at!

I've ordered some fat cakes, fat balls, buggy nibbles and mealworms and i swear if the beggars don't eat them........!!!!

I'm going to get a ground feeding thingummyjiggy too cos I want the blackbirds and starlings to get some too.

D


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## MrsW

Blackbirds and starlings also like apples, so if you have a few old wrinkly ones try throwing them on the ground for the birds.


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## Spacerunner

MrsW said:


> Blackbirds and starlings also like apples, so if you have a few old wrinkly ones try throwing them on the ground for the birds.


Am so tempted but she might read this! :lol: :wink:


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## MrsW

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Groper

To stop the water freezing I put an old wok on bricks and use a nightlight underneath.Works well unless there is a strong wind .Have to be careful though- if the temperature rises early in the morning the birds have a sauna! 
Not that we are likely to have that with our latest weather forecast


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## loughrigg

sallytrafic said:


> Don't tell me  the birds in our small garden get fed as well as me (not strictly true but you get the picture).
> 
> We've got 9 feeders on the go.


Only 9 - last count SWMBO had about 14 seed feeders in operation plus strings of fat balls and the copious amounts of assorted feeds that get spread on the ground. The ravenous little blighters eat the stuff by the bucket load.

Mike


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## loughrigg

dannimac said:


> Ok, but riddle me this
> 
> We've been putting out sunflower seeds and peanuts in feeders for weeks and weeks and apart from one wee robin's occasional visit, no other bird is coming near us. Why is this? I see them flying past, but not visiting our garden. And it's RSPB peanuts with none of the toxiny thingmewhotsits. And we're changing it regularly just so the wee beggars have fresh stuff to turn their noses up at!
> 
> I've ordered some fat cakes, fat balls, buggy nibbles and mealworms and i swear if the beggars don't eat them........!!!!
> 
> I'm going to get a ground feeding thingummyjiggy too cos I want the blackbirds and starlings to get some too.
> 
> D


Try moving the feeders around - sometimes, changing the location by a few feet can make a difference. SWMBO put out two new feeders just after Christmas. It normally takes a few days for the birds to accept a new feeder, so it was no surprise that they didn't get much attention at first.

By yesterday, they were still being ignored (other feeders were being used) so they were moved to a branch a foot or so higher and about three feet further from the garden bench. Within a couple of hours we had sparrows, greenfinches and goldfinches on the new feeders.

Mike


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## sallytrafic

Took this at the a couple of days ago in Farnham








g]

edit: slightly smaller one


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## raynipper

After the chickens have finished feeding on their mixture and walked off to find some delicious slugs and snails, the wild birds and a giant rabbit clear the dish.

Numerous black birds, thrushes, tits, finiches, etc.

Ray.


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## MrsW

What a fabulous photo Frank!


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## sallytrafic

MrsW said:


> What a fabulous photo Frank!


Thank you. Our new camera can take most of the credit x20 optical zoom and a good lens.


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## patnles

This could be the answer to the frozen bird bath Here
There are other designs but I can't find any uk sites selling them.


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes

We have a little sika doe in our grounds and I am sure she is pregnant, she got in a couple of months ago and cannot seem to find her way out and we are feeding her.

Started off with carrots and apples cut up and now on horse pasture pellets after she ate all the flowers including the geraniums!

Peter


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## bmb1uk

Hi would love to see some piccy's of your bird tables etc ,scubbed and cleaned mine at 7 this morning, even before i had my tea


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## Texas

I put 20 of those 'Suet balls' that you buy in a garden centre out last Monday, I wondered why they were not being eaten. I went out to-day and took some of them down...mystery solved ...because of the extreme cold they were as hard as iron.
I had to break them open with a 2lb hammer, give them a fine crumbling and put them in an open tray, worked a treat, now I will have to keep up with demand. :wink:


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## Tobysmumndad

*Once you start, don't stop!*

Once you start providing food, you have to keep it up. The birds will quickly come to rely on you and waste energy flying to your garden otherwise.

It's fascinating watching behaviour changing due to desperation. A thrush, normally a ground feeder, has learned to hop into the suspended birdhouse to eat the mealworms we put our for the robins, swinging merrily to and fro. It's the bold and inventive ones who will survive, while the others die in their thousands, sad to say.

We also have male and female greater-spotted woodpeckers knocking seven bells out of the groundnuts. They're normally very shy, and fly away at the slightest sign of movement, but are getting bolder every day.

I reckon we'll have one robin eating out of our hands before long. He's taken to perching outside the study window and cocking his cheeky little head at me. Moreton-in-Marsh CC site had a robin and a blackbird who were both so tame that they'd hop right up to you and do this.


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## dovtrams

this lad knows when he is well off, a daily visitor.

dave


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## zappy61

*feathered friends*

Some pics today, I don't know how they manage to survive I don't suppose they all will. Keep feeding.

Graham


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## zappy61

*feathered friends*

I nearlyforgot the tit!


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## CaGreg

A increase in the prevalance of bird feeders has led to an explosion in the rat population, who hoover up the fallen food and who raid the feeders at night.

Won't stop me feeding the birds though. I was sad to find a dead starling beside the front door this morning; it appeared to have fallen out of a tree and splatted on the ground.

Ca


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## bognormike

*Fieldfares & Redwings*

Our old apple tree outside my office window had one shrivelled apple left on it, and yesterday a Fieldfare was pecking at it, he eventually knocked it off & had a meal on the ground. 
Surprising that the resident birds hadn't got it; we haven't seen fieldfares around here before, it must mean it's really cold further east, because they are supposed to migrate west to the UK when it gets bad on mainland Europe. He's the only one we've seen though 

At our daughter's (in Buckinghamshire) at Christmas, they had a pair of Redwings in their garden. Apparently the two types of bird travel together?


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## Hezbez

Fieldfares and redwings and coal tits!
How do you all know your birds so well! 

I can tell a robin from a blackbird and that's about it!

Did you all go to 'Bird School' or something :lol: 

I still enoy feeding them though.


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## bognormike

Hezbez said:


> Fieldfares and redwings and coal tits!
> How do you all know your birds so well!
> 
> I can tell a robin from a blackbird and that's about it!
> 
> Did you all go to 'Bird School' or something :lol:
> 
> I still enoy feeding them though.


 :lol: :lol: 
Get hold of a bird book (binoculars can be helpful), it's relatively easy then to identify them and understand them. Very rewarding finding out what they all do & where the travel to & from.


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## bognormike

RSPB link to fieldfare

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/f/fieldfare/index.aspx


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## Zebedee

*Re: Fieldfares & Redwings*



bognormike said:


> Our old apple tree outside my office window had one shrivelled apple left on it, and yesterday a Fieldfare was pecking at it, he eventually knocked it off & had a meal on the ground.


Blackbirds (and others) like apples too.

We never pick up our windfalls in the Autumn. We rake them to the edges of the lawn and leave them for the birds. There is never a trace of them left by about February or March. :wink:

Dave


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## dannimac

I'm so excited! We've had our first tit in the back garden (no witty comments required).

So we persevered and there are more birds coming - we have male and female robin, blackbirds, starlings (happy with that as they're on red list) and now a tit - think it was a coal tit. Oh and one big fat collared dove!

I've got peanuts, seeds, 2 fat cakes, buggy nibbles, raisins, dried fruit mix, oats out for them and have 2 other seed feeders which I haven't put out yet cos I'm waiting to see how many more come.

Anyone know whether you should change bird food regularly if they don't eat it? I've got the RSPB peanuts without the toxiny things but it and our seed feeder is taking a little while to come down (prob because it's just been the robins so far and they eat like birds - ba da boom).

I'm going to stick at it cos I'm getting such a kick out of it and i don't want them to waste their wee calories getting here for me to have nothing for them.

D


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## DTPCHEMICALS

I have used 50 fat seed balls in a week.
The replacements are in a green net and the birds are keeping away from these.
I shall remove the nets in one feeder to see what happens.
dave p


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## bozzer

Snow Watch on BBC last night was excellent.

We've been feeding the birds but we're hoping to get away Saturday so filled all the containers and distributed any leftover food around garden. Hope the birds eat it all or we will be coming back to a crop of thistles!!!

The birds are also busy on the pond, there is an area where it isn't frozen as we leave pump running.


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## goldi

Afternoon all,

we ve ben feeding them upto three times a day,
The fat balls in nets did nt seam to work either so we put them on the bird table .
ca nt be doing with spring coming and not having any birds about.

norm


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## dannimac

Dave and Norm

I know that the RSPB are recommending that you take the fat balls out of nets because feet and beaks can get caught in the nets so you're doing the right thing.

I'm just watching Snow Watch just now and it's great! Hope all the birdies and animals of all sizes make it through.

I'm concerned that we're not getting a huge amount in but we'll keep at it

D


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## DTPCHEMICALS

Thanks D i will remove all the nets and just pop the balls in the feeders.
Dave p


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## pneumatician

*Feeding Birds*

I am really tring to feed all birds that want to sit at out birdtable, feed on the fat balls or gather that which I have scattered on the ground.

Problem is we have a Hen Blackbird that has claimed our tree and surroundings as her patch and woe betide any others that try and trespass. She was chasing Pidgeons off this morning. What to do?

Steve


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## DTPCHEMICALS

Steve
we have three male robins that really fight with each other. I did not realise they were so teritorial.

Dave p


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## Spacerunner

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> Steve
> we have three male robins that really fight with each other. I did not realise they were so teritorial.
> 
> Dave p


Robins can be real bullies and can keep tits out of a garden.

When it was really cold a blackbird scraped away the snow to reach the ground. He angrily chased other blackbirds away until finally they formed a cooperative.

Here in the New Forest we've had some redwings come in during the last two days.

The owls are still as noisy as ever. :roll:


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## richardjames

I do stock control in a local supermarket and am pleased to report that the bird food shelves are constantly stripped


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## Groper

Robins really are bullies but our Robin does not bother the tits it is usually the Dunnock he chases relentlessly.Never had any bird get tangled in the green nets the fat balls are in and that is over many years.Our biggest problem has been cats, the people next door to us bought one about 2 years ago and the birds visiting our garden declined dramatically.They moved away just before Xmas and the birds are returning


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## SpeedyDux

Last year I put out fat balls with the green netting on. That made it easy for the local crows to steal the fat balls so I started to remove the netting. Much better for the other birds. 

I find that bringing the fat ball feeder in at night and putting it out again in the morning helps to stop the frost making the fat balls too hard for their little beaks.


SD


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## zappy61

*feathered friends*

We were infested with squirrels, the house next door got them in the roof and did some damage, in our garden they destroyed new climbing roses and ate the newly planted bulbs so I got rid of them. Now we realise they kept the birds away, we have more birds now than ever. On one occasion we got a couple of tree rats back and the birds declined again. Got rid of them and the birds are back.

With the fat balls I put them in the food processor and grind them to course granules mix with bird seed they love it. I put some boiled rice out this week and the Robins particulary like it.

Graham


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## loughrigg

As I've got the MH and a car parked on the drive at the moment, any delivery drivers have to stop in the road and walk in rather than drive up to the front door.

This morning I opened the door to a rather red-faced driver as he balanced a huge box (with a large warning sticker "Care - over 25kg") against the wall.

When I mentioned to him that it was SWMBO's regular bird food order, I thought he was going to choke. He should have counted himself lucky they were out of stock of the 25kg bag of sunflower seeds that was also on the order.

Mike


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