At this time of year, with the rest of the garden rather quiet and drab, that I turn to the bird feeders for my splash of colour and action. Only this year even they are all rather subdued. I'm currently only having to refill the sunflower hearts once a week, and the peanuts and fat-balls less than that.
I'm not worried. Not yet, anyway. Given that here in the south of England the November temperature was 3 degrees centigrade above the average and December is heading in the same direction, I think many birds are still happy out eating the natural bounty in the countryside.
So at the moment, a little band of Blue and Great Tits have the feeders pretty much to themselves, with barely a quarrelsome Goldfinch to upset their snatch-and-grab flights back and forth.
The two feeders they like the most - and I LOVE- are my Squirrel Buster feeders. I have a little one (this is me filling it up this morning)...
and a HUMUNGOUS one.
Buying them was quite painful on the wallet, but they have proved to be by far the best I have ever had.
They are clever contraptions, designed so that the weight of a squirrel or even pigeon or jackdaw will close off the feeding ports. It works; it really works. I must be saving a fortune in seed that would otherwise be heading into the squirrels' cavernous guts.
But they have the added benefit that the seed is kept wonderfully dry. As yet, I have had none of the clogging and rotting problems that you can get at the bottom of other feeders.
Gee, it sounds like I'm doing a sales job on you, but I'm far too rubbish a marketing man for that! But I will give you hyperlinks to them so you can see how much they'd set you back - this is the little one, and this one the super-duper wallet-busting one.
Have any of you tried them? Do you like them as much as me, or do you have other feeders that you would recommend? Cold weather can't be too far away, and with Big Garden Birdwatch on the horizon (30 & 31 Jan 2016), it's good to be all prepared!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
We've had the big one for a few years (bought at Lake Vyrnwy, making use of our RSPB volunteers' discount) and agree we have saved the cost by not feeding squirrels and wood pigeons. Interesting that this year coal tits and marsh tits are taking nyjer seeds even if sunflower seeds are available - first time we've seen that.