Feed the birds!

[utah 10]

I used to live where we got a lot of magpies and you cant avoid it really and to be fair they're hungry too. I live very close by open countryside I'm getting quite a lot of crows and erm.. the other ones like crows .. coming in as they're obviously not getting enough out in the sticks. I let them have a bit then shoo them off to give the little ones a chance but I feel sorry for them too.

 

Jackdaws, thats the one

Edited January 3, 2010 by utah
return of memory

[woggle 10]

Even magpies get hungry, I agree they are a pest but still need a feed like all birds.

I haven't seen the sparrowhawk for sometime now either but have noticed lots of other birds I dont normally notice around in the warmer months.

[pattricia 582]

Please recommend anti magpie feed.

 

I wouldnt mind if they just ate some, but they take the flippin lot !

[helibish 10]

i save everything, even the fat from the roasting tin then i fill it with nuts and bread and dog biscuits. i make a hard dough and they just love pecking at it. At night i put meat out for the fox. I think it helps the wildlife and reduces the waste.

[wednesday1 10]

I get a 20kg bag of wild bird food from that pet food place on Cricket Inn road. Only about £12 for a bag that lasts months.

[Sharp87 10]

i save everything, even the fat from the roasting tin then i fill it with nuts and bread and dog biscuits. i make a hard dough and they just love pecking at it. At night i put meat out for the fox. I think it helps the wildlife and reduces the waste.

 

you feed the vermin? why?

[Cat86 10]

I always have a bird feeder full from october-march. Theyve not been as much lately, because I think my cats had a couple of them

[ericsean 10]

Is that niger seed, the really fine stuff you need a special feeder for? It is a bit of a specialist food but if you're lucky you'll get goldfinches which are absolutely beautiful. If you're very, very lucky you'll get a redpoll like I did last year.

 

I cant remember what it was called but it was very fine and black. I bought a special feeder for it too. The ports look too small for magpies to get anything out of it. Its always the larger birds that get the food in our garden so i thought id try and treat the ickle ones.

[helibish 10]

you feed the vermin? why?

 

WHY not?

I would much rather feed the fox tit bits by my own choice, than feed the real vermin with my taxes.

i love all wildlife and we have food rotting in bins at a cost to the tax payer so why not feed the animals.

[Lorri 10]

I always put nuts & fat balls out for the birds, but they're not eating them

[hillsbro 33]

The birds in our garden are thoroughly spoiled - they get fatballs (much loved by the blue tits and coal tits) multi-grain bird mix from Ashby market, mealworms for the blackbirds, niger seed (the goldfinches can't get enough of it) and peanuts for the wood pigeons and collared doves. The long-tailed tits call occasionally and see what's on offer, though they prefer insects. Meanwhile the little dunnock tidies up anything that falls from the bird table.

 

As the OP wrote, birds do struggle in winter, especially when there's snow on the ground and the soil is frozen. The more birds survive the winter, the more life and colour we'll have in our gardens in 2010..

[SILLY 10]

We have a pond in our garden and we have seen lots of different birds coming for the water and the last few nights we have had a couple of foxes drinking from it. I was just thinking of getting or making some fat balls myself as I love to see all the different birds and have been on the R S P C A site to find out what they all are.