• Replies 2 replies
  • Subscribers 23 subscribers
  • Views 2287 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Latest posts

Setting up garden feeders

Neil M
23/11/2016 18:34
Hi. I have recently moved to a new home and I am new to feeding the birds (I have attached a photo of the garden). I live in the countryside and have large conifers in the garden and also a sumac tree (which leaves have fallen at the moment). I have a robin, dunnock, and male and female blackbird currently. I have a sunflower heart feeder on the bird table which they use, a few ground feeders, a mealworm feeder, peanut feeder and fat ball feeders. I also leave small piles of each on the bird table. Will the birds happily feed from the bare sumac tree if I hang some of the feeders in there? I'd like to get blue and great tits and maybe some other species into the garden. What would be the best height for the feeders in the tree (or is this irrelevant?), is it best to mix sunflower hearts and other seed and mealworms etc? And will suet pellets be ok mixed in with peanuts in a peanut feeder? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
  • 23/11/2016 18:49

    Hi Neil. That looks like a decent location for garden birds. If the feeders are close to a hedge or other cover, then the birds will be more inclined to use them so that they can dive for cover if necessary. Blue Tits and Great Tits tend to take a sunflower heart away from the feeder and eat it nearby. I can't see why they wouldn't use feeders hanging in a tree. I have some hanging from a ceanothus tree. I keep seed in one feeder and sunflower hearts in another. Likewise I keep pellets and peanuts separate. You'll figure out what they like over time.

    Just a thought, maybe you could sprinkle a few suet pellets and mealworms under the hedge, so the Robins and Dunnocks are catered for.

    Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos

    (One bush does not shelter two Robins)

    Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)

     

  • 23/11/2016 19:08 in reply to monkeycheese

    Thanks for the reply. The dunnock and robin are happy to feedback on the. It's table at the moment which is surprising. I also have some ground feeders for them.