Bird feeding tips

[Paul_B]

When we moved in there were a couple of bird feeders and a rotten bird table. We got a lot of birds visiting in winter especially and we helped them a lot with peanusts and mixed bird seed on the table. All these feeding stations have been broken up and we had to get rid. We now have three metal / metal and plastic feeders in three locations. These are as follows: -

One is bird seed mix in a plastic and metal feeder with two holes at the bottom which stops the feed falling out but allows access. This is hanging from a high branch in the holly tree (we cut the lower branches off it a few years ago so this is hanging from the lowest branch that I can just reach to hang it from). The peanut feeder has a fine metal mesh and is hanging low down from a skimmia bush on the patio but still not reachable by cats and our dog. The third is a 4 fat ball containing wide mesh holder from the Magnola tree with a recyclable half shell fat/suet/other things mix. I have also put a fat ball on the ground for blackbirds and ground feeders who don't like aerial feeders.

This is effectively five feeding stations. Is there anything else I can do? I live in a rural village and this is a hillside garden with trees at the top.

It seems that there are less birds around this winter indeed this year. ALso fewer species. I have really only seen a blue tit, robin, blackbirds and probasbly great tits this year and really only blackbirds and robin on these feeders (one blue tit seen once). I guess if they are out there and do not have sufficient food elsewhere they will find these food sources but what can I do above this? First priority is to support them in this difficult time. Second is to encourage more to come and a wider range of species for a purely seflish POV of wanting to see more birds for our entertainment.

We missed doing this last year but before that we fed them. We are used to seeing lots of birds and many species including gold crest (also a possible fire crest), plus a few I think that are less than common. We are not seeing many species and the numbers are right down on two winters ago. Are there less around or is it that they moved on bercause we stopped feeding and perhaps need to find it again now?? Has there been some event (perthaps bird flu) that could have reduced the numbers and variety? I live south Cumbria if that is relevant.

 

[Broch]

Nature has a habit of working in cycles so I wouldn't worry too much. We were getting concerned that we haven't seen any Siskins but, when we looked at our records, we realised that they don't normally appear here until February. It's worth keeping records just to be able to do that kind of check.

We haven't had Greenfinch here for about 15 years (their numbers were decimated) but had our first a couple of weeks ago.

The other thing to keep in mind is, in a rural environment, wildlife is more distributed and you can get lower numbers and fewer species at times than you may get in an urban environment where your feeding station is a bit of an oasis.

 

[Pattree]

I agree, species and populations are well down here. The rooks and magpies seem to be doing alright. We find that the different species queue up to come to the feeders. Rooks at dawn, pigeons after them then small birds if squirrels let them.
No I am not going to cull the squirrels. They are as indigenous as rabbits!

Like you we have wondered is there anything else we can do (that we can afford. Peanuts aren’t cheap but we buy them)

I suppose that we must look at the natural feeding habits. Can we provide berries? Should we provide them out of season?
Can we provide insects. Well certainly not today at minus 3 but once the sun warms the air just a bit I can release a cloud of fruit flies from my compost darleks. I’m not sure how much insects are predated in winter.

The only extra I can think of is a fine seed for goldcrests and wrens. So maybe some fine grass seeds such as fescu.

Meat for the carrion feeders? Maybe.

 

[Broch]

I have found, over the years, that feeders are more successful if they are not under trees and shrubs but within 1 or 2m of cover. Birds appear to like to be able to see around them but have cover close enough to dive into if necessary.

We record and send off our bird sightings every week to the vice-county bird recorder. We are typically submitting 16 to 25 species a week but the list will vary from time to time. For example, a month ago we were getting pied and grey wagtails every day; we haven't seen any for a couple of weeks now.

Putting my biodiversity/conservation hat on for a minute - we have to be honest and say we feed the birds for our pleasure; it's debatable whether it's the right thing to do. By feeding our winter residents, such as blue tits and great tits throughout winter, we are putting them into an advantaged position for food and nesting in spring when the migrants arrive. The numbers of the tits is probably in excess of what it should be naturally for the resources available; habitats are reduced and insect numbers are low. By falsely increasing their numbers we are putting a strain on the available resources for migrants.

Still, the sparrow hawks aren't complaining

Oh, and if I didn't cull grey squirrels, we wouldn't have any saplings left. I have shot 24 since the start of November just from my lounge window! They destroy young plantations. One thing they do do of benefit is help keep the blue tit numbers in check

 

[demented dale]

A note of interest. I put bird feeders up outside my tent so I could watch them as well as help. I only ever do it in the winter. This year I didn't put any up. I noticed that I have not had my annual rat and mouse occupation this year and I mean not a single one as compared to 6 or seven yearly. I spoke to a conservation officer who said that the feeders were the direct cause of my rodent problem and I agree. I will put them up again but not close to me. x

 

[haptalaon]

Think about non bird feeder stuff, maybe? I've got the Wildlife Gardening by Kate Bradbury and it has stuff about what different birds eat, in terms of insect life and berries. A pond, and things supporting insects, as well as thinking about enough berry/seed cover to last all year round might help in a more holistic sense of establishing a mini eco system.

 

[HillBill]

Sorry, i've not read the replies. One thing we do, is buy cheap oats. Then when we cook fatty food, sausages, etc... we let the pan go cold, and throw a hand full of oats in. warm the pan again, not hot just enough to turn the fat to iLquid, they absorb the fat, then the day after, i throw it on the shed roof. Birds get fed, pan gets cleaned.

Cats don't complain.

 

[haptalaon]

Oh while we are discussing this, apparebtly the RSPB are recommending against flat bird feeders right now. Disease is going around and killing the finches and they're catching it from each other at bird tables.

 

[Toddy]

I just put a squirt of Domestos into a bucket, half fill it with warm water, then take the old sink scourer/sponge thingie and I scrub the bird feeder pole and individual feeders with that. Let them drain dry.

Uses up the old scourer and rubber gloves and cleans the feeders properly.
I empty the bucket down the drain in the gutter at the road side. Don't fancy pouring it down the sink, tbh.

 

[Falstaff]

Maybe find a way of catching any spilt food, like an inverted dustbin lid.
I have a rat and mouse problem due to my neighbour feeding her wild pigeons and birds. I'm surprised anything is left for the rats, unless they skin up the pole and eat at night.
My previous tenant had a standard hanging bird feeder, I found a "live" mousehole directly below it and self-set corn growing around it. The rats have now gained access to my composter and the rat bait doesn't seem to have stopped it. Grrr.
Sometimes I see a grey squirrel but it doesn't seem to be interested in the feeder/her lawn.

 

[haptalaon]

I just put a squirt of Domestos into a bucket, half fill it with warm water, then take the old sink scourer/sponge thingie and I scrub the bird feeder pole and individual feeders with that. Let them drain dry.

Uses up the old scourer and rubber gloves and cleans the feeders properly.
I empty the bucket down the drain in the gutter at the road side. Don't fancy pouring it down the sink, tbh.

Yeah I bet that's OK. Presumably it's easier for the RSPB to get the message out of 'don't do it' than 'routinely clean your feeders', as I'm sure most people won't have the enthusiasm for that.

I'm making a bird feeder atm and I'm thinking about including a plastic base that can be removed for easy wiping

 

[Broch]

Greenfinches were all but wiped out due to feeder infection some while ago. It's the main reason that I don't feed after the end of March or before first frost in November. But even that is probably not reducing risk by much.

Unless you clean every day it's unlikely to stop the spread of disease if your flocks are infected. Even then, just one infected bird feeding on a clean feeder, and the next one to feed from the same feeder area risks being infected. It's a sad situation but it's an unnatural feeding process - in the wild, birds wouldn't be poking their beaks into exactly the same feeding space all the time

 

[Toddy]

I get everything from robins to moorhens visiting my garden (I live next to a tree covered nature walk with a burn running along side it) Heron's and buzzards come close but don't come down. The kestrel does, and takes pigeons on occasion.....you would not believe how many feathers there are in one pigeon unitl it's plucked and picked over by a kestrel.....otherwise it's the usual range of British birds, from woodpeckers to bluetits, from blackbirds to bullfinches. Nuthatches, wrens, long tailed tits, dunnocks, sparrows, magpies, rooks, etc.,

I feed the birds. I feed reliably but I really do try to minimise debris that attracts vermin like rats and mice.
The biggest pests are actually squirrels. They eat their way into any plastic feeder and they scatter food around.

I put the bird feeding station pole into the centre of a ring of pavers. It's about 1.5m across. It's not perfect, but it's at least hose down able.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I had a couple of fat ball feeders hanging on a kolkwitzia and a ring shaped fat ball feeder on a tree about ten metres away. The birds could easily see if a cat was creeping up and would fully to the other feeder. The cat would spend an hour running from one feeding station to the other.

Tits off various kinds hang from the feeders, pecking away, anything that falls to the ground gets immediately eaten by the turtle doves, robins and magpies. Nothing left, so no rodent problems.

Since I trimmed the kolkwitzia quite severely, all three feeders are hanging together but are empty most of the time. I'll start putting food out more regularly next week.

 

[Paul_B]

We had a half shell of fat and seeds hanging from a tree next to the seed feeder. I also put a fatball on the retaining wall nearby. Then the holly tree with the lower bracnhes cut away has the seed feeder hanging on a long chain well bwlow the branches. The peanut feeder is about a metre and a half off the floor under the cover of a shrub that had grown over another shrub which had then been cut right back leaving the overhang. Those are not going down as quick.

This afternoon I noticed that the half shell had been dropped from the tree and the blackbird was feeding hard on it and chasing any other bird away. I think it had managed to work it loose off the tree. Cheeky bird. Can't feed from trees so take the feeder out of the tree!! Clever birdy!!!!

Our wild seeds are less than a week up and about a quarter is gone alread. It took about two or three days before I even ssaaw a bird on it. So once they got to it they are feeding hard on the contents.

 

[haptalaon]

Greenfinches were all but wiped out due to feeder infection some while ago. It's the main reason that I don't feed after the end of March or before first frost in November. But even that is probably not reducing risk by much.

Unless you clean every day it's unlikely to stop the spread of disease if your flocks are infected. Even then, just one infected bird feeding on a clean feeder, and the next one to feed from the same feeder area risks being infected. It's a sad situation but it's an unnatural feeding process - in the wild, birds wouldn't be poking their beaks into exactly the same feeding space all the time

yeah :/ it's really difficult. As you say, its an unnatural way for them to behave in the wild.

It's the same for bee hotels. the wildlife gardening book i mentioned upthread has a whole section on how to clean out the hotel & take care of your overwintering bees, & I was like hmm. no i do not have time for this. Bees are gonna have to go back to wild-camping.

In my heart I'm with you on 'getting involved with nature has to improve things for nature' - i'm inclined to be a hardliner about it because the situation is so dire. I did read something very thought provoking in 'Last Child in the Woods' - a book calling for more kids to have more wild upbringings - and he notes that children can't encounter nature as a 'look, don't touch' thing. They have to be allowed to nail up treehouses and steal birds eggs and dam streams and snap twigs and all that, to engage with it in an interactive way - as well as learning by doing rather than just looking quietly at a guidebook. He's right about that, and I think it's true for adults too. Hence bushcraft!

So it's a bit of a tricky situation cus you want to give people more options than just 'bird-friendly planting and then sit and wait', making and tending birdfeeders is a way to make nature tangible and to feel a sense of participation. But as you say. If it kills birds, it kills birds!

& I've certainly found a lot of situations where people are very much in denial about the harm done by their nature hobbies, a kind of 'if it feels nice to me then it is nice' wishful thinking. Foraging is one that gets me reaching for my soapbox. We lose enough nature to big agriculture to afford to lose more just to feel nature-loving. I'm antsy about a lot of the bushcraft content, a key part of true indigenous bushcraft is managing your ecosystem over time to ensure resources are available generationally, a thing none of us can do, and the kind of place none of us live. There's not enough there for us all to burn the dead wood and put up a log cabin. But maybe it's still better for people to at least go outside and feel an investment in what grows around them than sitting inside and not caring at all.

Tricky situation.

 

[Pattree]

Hmmmmm. Not sure about this.

Who cleans the Rowan branches come berry time or the bee holes in the sandstone in my garden?

Have I missed something?

 

[Broch]

Agreed, but there's a slight difference between birds going to the same tree, and eating the berries off a bunch, and birds literally going to the same gap in a nut feeder or the same hole in a seed feeder. There's never repeated contact at the same feeding spot because that particular berry/seed/grub has gone.