Welcome to the RSPB Communities Christmas Advent calendar! Rather than chocolates (sorry), with each day that leads up to the big day, why not open a virtual Advent calendar window and reveal a teaser for you to ponder or post a picture. There is no right or wrong answer, the answers will simply be what you want to appear in that window. It’s Christmas, so let’s have some fun!Claire
Go natural - plant berry and fruiting shrubs and trees and loads of insect friendly plants!
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Herons love pasta and cold meats! (in Regents Park!)
Plenty of water to accompany the suet pellets/sunflower hearts/home made pastry!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
It's got to be raw pastry, a cheap way to supplement the seeds/nuts, as the birds in my garden go for pastry first before the seeds and nuts; at the moment I have 6 Magpies trying to nick all the fresh pastry I just put out for the smaller birds lol GSWoody has its own personal feeder filled with pastry !
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Regards, Hazel
I noticed that some nyger seed feeders had slightly larger slots than others which caused a lot of nyger seeds to empty out whilst the birds were using it. This often resulted in excessive piles of nyger seed building up below the feeder in a short period of time. I now use one of these but fill it with sunflower hearts instead, which the birds have to work at to get them out in small pieces. This does not deter the birds in any way and I find that the sunflower hearts do not now dissapear within the first hour or so of putting them out. (I also now check that my feeders specifically for nyger seed have the narrowest possible slots before buying a new one).
My bird photos HERE
I always buy my Bird Food direct from the RSPB and I get quite a variation of food for them and of course I put water out as well.
Regards,
Ian.
More a question than a suggestion, has anyone tried freezing snails in the summer & then putting them out for thrushes in the winter? Our songthrush wouldn't touch any of the food we put out when we were in a freezing spell (-8/9°C) & we had to help him crack the shells of the snails he could find by hitting them with a hammer. That gave me the idea that perhaps they might eat previously frozen ones.
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Day 14:Most memorable wildlife news story?
I have to dig back in my memory for this one but when I lived in Brunei (1981 -84) we used to get the Borneo Bulletin weekly newspaper and I remember seeing a double page spread with a photograph of an 82ft. python which was captured in the jungle - the photo showed it being held above head height by around 12 Iban tribesmen .........it was destined for the dinner table of course. Some things you never really forget lol
My most memorable wildlife story was from the BBC during the 1950's and that Ospreys had returned to nest at Loch Garten in Scotland after such a very long time and because of that story my interest in Birds and Wildlife has really become a part of my life.