Am I harming these birds?

Hi Pat,

All I can say is how lucky you are to get all those visitors.  I get so few and I really love watching the birds.  I do wonder if it is the 3 cats from the pub next door that scare them off.  I have bought an electron cat-scarer recently for the back garden where I feed the birds and I must admit I haven't seen as many cats as before just one walking along the wall.  However, they are leaving their 'calling cards' in the front garden now so it looks as if I'll need to get one for there also, especially as I like growing things and they seem to delight in scraping up the soil!

A

patmedium said:

I moved into this little square of bungalows with its open plan garden area some time ago. There are four flowering cherry trees, one in each corner. A large wild cherry tree which looks about fifty years old, well grown and nicely shaped, stands about seven meters from my window.

Every morning, before dawn, several blackbirds arrive to settle in the tree.

As the daylight gets stronger, they are joined by chaffinches, more blackbirds, several collared doves, wood pigeons,  a couple of sparrows and a thrush. These birds come and go, but mostly hang around, joined now and then by a solitary pied wagtail, coal tits, great tits and several magpies. By full daylight, the smash-and-grab gang arrive, taking up their positions in nearby trees, on rooftops, airials and chimneypots. I know that these starlings are regulars, because one of them has perfected the art of the cock-crow ... I have heard him perform his party-piece most days this winter.

I, meanwhile, am sitting at this desk to the right of my window, watching the blackbirds sorting out who has precedence here. The resident robin comes and goes, occasionally chasing off any redbreasted intruders. I drink my pint pot of Yorkshire tea, smoke a couple of cigs ... yes, guilty, I'm afraid ... then I bow to the inevitable and enter the kitchen where I:

A) crumb down a third of a loaf of brown bread, some plain ryvitas left from Ken, my recently passed husband,  (I prefer the seeded ones), some uneaten christmas cake and whatever else is around.

B) Grate an apple or two, sometimes a carrot.

C) Grind a couple of large handfuls of peanuts in the liquidiser sometimes adding a handful of raisins or some blackberries from the freezer.

D) melt half a packet of lard or dripping in an old saucepan.

I read somewhere that bread is useless to wild birds ... they get no goodness from it at all, but I have no idea what else I could get the fat into to make it accessible to the ground feeding members of my clientelle.

So, the crumb and porridge oats are stirred in and thoroughly worked throughout the melted fat. Then the rest of the mix is added and worked in. Sometimes I also crush a handful of mealworm and stir that in.

My left leg is now screaming, so I sit down for the length of another cig while I watch my expectant friends.

Rested, I view the feeders to see what needs topping up ... Does anyone know of a nyger seed feeder that does NOT spew half its contents on the flower bed below?

Outside, I approach the tree, which is standing on a patch of bare flower bed, about twenty square meters, backed by a large well-clipped block of miniature privet. I chuck spatula loads of the food upwards into the branches, as that breaks the lumps up nicely and specks lodge in the twigs while most falls to the ground. The din from the gang of starlings increases in volume as the cheekiest come down into the now vacated tree above my head. (Incedentally, the best way I have found to count these is by standing out there, stopping them coming down, while I rapidly cast my eyes around the queue! LOL. Trying to count them on the ground itself as they blanket it and are constantly startling themselves up and away and then back round again is an impossibility. The most I have counted is seventy six ... the least fifty ... so for my birdwatch hour, which starts as I put out the food, I cheat, I'm afraid, and count the starling queue.

I am entertained by the blackbird who has decided he's the chief bird ... he spends his time frantically chasing off interlopers, as many as ten or a dozen. These birds snatch and peck, dining quite well ... he, meanwhile, is far too busy fluttering around his patch, seeing them off, one after another.

Well, that's about it ... until tomorrow's meal!

There are seven feeding stations in this square and six that I know of in back gardens.

I am told that I am stopping these creatures fending for themselves. Too much animal fat is bad for them.

My question : Am I harming these creatures?