Hi there,
I'm a newbie and have been reading the forums recently and have really enjoyed the posts. So thought i'd write my own little ditty for you all to enjoy. Hope you do!
I've been feeding the local birds for 3 months now and only had Starlings and Pigeons in my garden despite there being a large House Sparrow roost nearby at least 5 or 6 Blue Tits locally, Robins, Crows and Magpies in the area. We thought we'd tried everything to encourage them down but they wouldn't budge!
So I bought a better ground feeder and put a Sanctuary round it to protect them. I was very excited by it and so were the birds who all came checking it out immediately, though none actually ventured in to it to start with. Two Starlings to our surprise landed on a old bird bath that we hadn't realised had collected rainwater in, and started splashing around. To our horror, almost immediately a cat jumped out and took one before we could even move. We were devastated!
At that point we weren't sure whether to carry on. But we decided on a complete revamp of the garden to protect the birds further and have put several harmless cat deterrent measures in aswell. This has reaped amazing rewards! We've had the local Sparrows all visit the garden although they haven't fed yet. Our local Robin has been spotted much more frequently even though he hasn't yet visited the feeders. But today we've just had our first Blue Tit on our main feeder! Brilliant! To top it off, an hour later I visited my local park and have identified my first ever pied wagtail too! After a horrific start it's been such a thrilling end to the week!
Since we first started, I've also been absolutely thrilled to see my first Kestrel locally and also a pair of Skylarks on a green outside my house too. Never thought this would be so much fun when I first started and so now am completely hooked!
Now I'm happy identifying the birds I'll start taking pictures which I hope to share with you all to bring the story to life a bit more. But just to say i big thanks to all the contributors on the forum. I've learnt so much in a very short space of time because of them so big thanks for that.
Happy Birding all!
Steve
I won't be happy until I've got a penguin down :)
Hi Steve
Welcome to the forums. Garden bird feeding, birdwatching, wildlife gardening etc is such an interesting and rewarding pastime. I hope your new-found hobby will give you many years pleasure. Do visit the RSPB Communities and our main website often for information and advice on anything even vaguely bird-related. Whenever you have a question, however simple or complicated, you can be sure that someone here will be able to come up with an answer for you.
Hello Steve and welcome from me too. Lovely to hear your story and your enthusiasm comes through your writing. Look forward to hearing from you again.
Hi SteveWelcome from me too. I am sure you will gets hours of pleasure watching your garden birds - I know I do and I have learnt such a lot from these forums and friendly posts. Good luck
Of all creatures, man is the most detestable, he is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. ~ Mark Twain
Hi Steve,
Welcome to the forums,you will pick up lots of tips and advice and have a laugh along the way .Enjoy!
Littleowl
A warm welcome from me to. I have been feeding my birds a full year around now and the interest and excitement caused by a new species is still great, Only yesterday had a visit from my fist chaffinch.
Keep up the good work and look forward to seeing your pictures and hearing some more stories
Sarah
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bramble67/
Hello Steve, and welcome from me too. :-)
It's sad that you got off to a bad start with the cat taking a bird that had ventured into your garden, but well done for persevering and going for a complete revamp of the garden.
Now the birds have started to visit you, I'm sure that they will continue, and multiply when word 'gets around'
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
Its what Birding is all about . Welcome to the fourms Steve and have fun.
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!
Welcome to the forum from me. I was hooked from the moment I first started feeding the garden birds about 10 months ago, and am still hooked. Well done for persevering after the incident with the cat. These things happen to us all at one time or another. The birds will find your restaurant and will start to trickle down. It only takes one sparrow and the rest follow automatically. Good luck, and keep posting. I look forward to your stories and photos.
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Hi again,
This response is exactly what I am talking about. I've been on many forums on many subjects but you just don't get the friendliness and warmth that you receive on this one and so again thank you for that.
As I say, I'm now completely hooked so there is no danger of me stopping any time soon. I'll keep you all updated with the developments here. I hope there'll be many!.
Take care all.
welcome to the forum, glad you stopped the cats a bit. now they can see the cats coming the birds will be happy to vist your feeders.
Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!