I'm sure many people have this situation so please can you help me? I love feeding the birds but the feeding station has been taken over by squirrels, pigeons and magpies. I know they need to eat but I really want to attract the smaller birds so would it be cruel to the bigger birds and squirrels, to use feeders and food that only the smaller birds can access? Thank you
Hello Winslet, We had the same problem in our last garden and found a couple of solutions which worked really well.
The first was a ground guardian cage like THIS ONE where only smaller birds can gain access to the food;
I added a piece of heavy duty butyl pond liner cut to fit the pitched roof (added two metal rods to weight down each end of liner so it didn't blow off in strong winds) and this helped keep the bird food dry during inclement weather.
The other way is to fix a free standing feeder pole and fit a baffle dome fitted just beneath where you hang the feeders as this prevents squirrels from reaching the food. For woodpigeons, magpies, etc., you will need guardian type feeders, a variety of which are available online and in store but go for good quality ones as they have better UK safety standards and will not trap or harm birds.
One feeder guardian feeder which has proved very popular with the smaller birds is THIS ONE, I had three of them and only smaller birds like tits, robins, can access the food.
Good luck and hope one of these methods work for you too.