Anyone feed the wild birds?

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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Share your ideas, photos, DIY things.

I spotted a sparrow, so put some old bread out initially. _20200729_183810.JPG

Anyway this isn't for the pheasants, those seem content to spook the cob though.
I don't mind sharing with the squirrels, though not seen any in the trees.
 
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We put fat balls in a feeder, in an effort to encourage more small birds to the garden. We have loads and loads of Wood Pigeons and I'm sick of the sight of them lol.
 
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Ruddy pigeons - it'll be them that kill me while riding. Not a ten ton lorry - a pigeon or a squirrel. Robins, we do feed, in the barn - one last year would eat from your hand. My very favourite birds. The lady next door feeds the crows, and has named her favourite - Derek or David or something.
 
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Yup, I put out suet, fat candles and seed, we have loads of birds visit us from Nuthatch to goldcrest, robin to woodpeckers, my favourites have to be the long tailed tits though, we get big flocks of about 15 at a time. We’ve had loads of baby’s that have survived this year as well which is lovely.
 
Just bought a mix with dried mealworm, sunflower, peanut granules etc. For small birds.
I have seen Jays here but they like to root around the poop.

Insect wise we have grasshoppers and butterflies, I would rather things didn't eat those! But we have earwigs, millipede type things, beetles and ants. Our pigeons have poor eyesight, they get into the trees and appear to have issues with take off.
 
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Bird table outside Mrs G's treatment room so we get a regular supply of blue tits, sparrows, nuthatches, goldfinches... and an occasional mouse who scurries across the floor for dropped seeds!
 
I feed them through the winter if it's harsh, no fancy feeder just throw seed on top of the Hank hut, but since I got the guineas they just steal their food :p
 
I do not deliberately feed garden birds as I have 4 cats, 3 of which are hunters (the other is just a stalker!). We have wrens, robins and blackbirds visiting the garden, and I am always anxious for their safety. But the birds around me are generally not of the garden variety, being mostly coastal and moorland types. The starlings, sparrows and rock doves “share” the chicken feed, despite my efforts to the contrary. We have found a starling and a rock dove trapped inside the treadle feeder ( on separate occasions). - both flew out unharmed, but rather full!
 
I do not deliberately feed garden birds as I have 4 cats, 3 of which are hunters (the other is just a stalker!). We have wrens, robins and blackbirds visiting the garden, and I am always anxious for their safety. But the birds around me are generally not of the garden variety, being mostly coastal and moorland types. The starlings, sparrows and rock doves “share” the chicken feed, despite my efforts to the contrary. We have found a starling and a rock dove trapped inside the treadle feeder ( on separate occasions). - both flew out unharmed, but rather full!

Yes I'm a bit like that with our six cats. They are all hunters. OH feeds the sparrows and has a "pet" seagull that he feeds in the field whilst taking Storm out for grass (twice a day then I take over). We used to feed the professor Yaffles (young blackies) but it's not safe. They tried to nest in Storm's box but I removed the old nests, for their own good this spring. In the back garden we get lots of smaller birds, but I don't actively feed them, they help themselves to the fruit bushes.
 
Yes, we feed birds all year round. I love it, personally.

We've got a bird table, 3 fat ball feeders, a couple of hanging bits feeders and a bird bath.

I'm wanting to get another bird table but not got round to it yet.

We seem to get a lot of birds, but we back onto woodland and a large meadow, so plenty around, I guess!
 
I saw this one on the feeder today. If I had to guess, it looked like a baby something or other?

I did spot a nearby house with a pole and three things hanging, so we could be a on regular route they fly over.

Looking at what's out there to buy, so much choice, and some really fun designs.

Could bird feeders come under enrichment for the cob. :DDSC_2908.JPG
 
I saw this one on the feeder today. If I had to guess, it looked like a baby something or other?

I did spot a nearby house with a pole and three things hanging, so we could be a on regular route they fly over.

Looking at what's out there to buy, so much choice, and some really fun designs.

Could bird feeders come under enrichment for the cob. :DView attachment 103215
That looks like a young Robin ?
I think we are on a feeding route, most of the birds come to our feeders about the same time each day and we guess they fly from one feeding spot to another. I love watching them.
 
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The thing that worries me most about feeding the birds is them coming to rely on a steady source of food and then what happens if you go away, or move house? Potentially there will be more birds in the area than the natural food supply can support. It always upsets me when I think about it.
 
The thing that worries me most about feeding the birds is them coming to rely on a steady source of food and then what happens if you go away, or move house? Potentially there will be more birds in the area than the natural food supply can support. It always upsets me when I think about it.

Yes you are quite right about that. When we left our old house I was quite upset at the thoughts of all ours going hungry! Luckily it was during the summer when we moved, not winter, so I like to think they could still dig for worms, eat berries and flies etc. OH is always saying we must not stop feeding the birds that we do feed, like the sparrows that follow him in the field. They do come to rely on him! Lol I joke some mornings as I see him coming to take over the shift at holding Storm for grass and walking her - I say "oh look here comes St Francis of Assisi" because all the sparrows seem to follow him.............he has pockets full of crumbs, broken digestives and brown bread with seeds. Hahahahaa. And now of course he has another pet gull.
 
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The thing that worries me most about feeding the birds is them coming to rely on a steady source of food and then what happens if you go away, or move house? Potentially there will be more birds in the area than the natural food supply can support. It always upsets me when I think about it.
They find another source that's what nature does.
Actually that's what we did with the lockdown. The shops shut, we went online, we found another source. We ordered locally, we went without.
I am not going to provide a bird bath, houses, plant anything. I want the blackberries for a crumble. :)
 
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No not specifically. But indirectly i feed a variety of wildlife. In the winter the pheasants arrive as soon as i go to feed the sheep. Ive counted as many as 15 helping themselves to the food out the troughs next to the sheep.

Even the foxes feed in with the sheep at times. Last year i had a family of four fox cubs and mum who used to come into the yard after dark and scrounge any of the ewe nuts the sheep dropped on the floor.

Weve got too many squirrels so the birds wouldnt get a look in. I have feed barrels in my fields, with feed in so i can easily feed the sheep. They are supposed to be rat proof. The lids i have discovered are made of a different plastic. The squirrels could smell the food in the bin and over the course of a month they started chewing the lid round the edge on one. It took me ages to work out why the lids had nibble marks, then deep gouges and then holes. Till i saw the little blitter sitting happily on the bin. I thought it was rats getting on them but as the barrels are round, curved and smooth i was like how are they getting up there. Then realised the squirrels were dropping done from the trees above. The squirrels are so destructive, i now have to have metal bands on any bins stood in the field to stop them chewing through.

When we had the goats we had a variety of little birds that were always in the yard and the goat shed. But we use to feed mix and inevitably the goats would drop bits out of there mouth. We had loads of yellow hammers, wrens, robins, finches, blackbirds. Now we only get robins and blackbirds. Like you say, if the food source dries up they eventually go elsewhere.
 
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