The secret to feeding Blackcaps?

In the recent hard weather, I've been visited daily by a Mr Blackcap.

As you can see, he has taken to eating sunflower hearts from one of the SquirrelBuster birdfeeders, taking his turn among the Greenfinches, House Sparrows and Goldfinches.

Very attractive he looks too, in his demure way, and seemingly perfectly at home on a tough seedy diet for a bird we think of normally as an insect eater, although he does have to nip down to the pond edge at times to wash down his dry meal.

So I was interested to see some emails from John and Shena Maskell on a local e-group about the Blackcaps they have been getting in their garden. At least eight of them. Eight!

They then emailed me with some fascinating observations, the results of several hours' patient watching.

Their Blackcaps have been feeding entirely on 'buggy nibbles' pellets. John and Shena have two buggy nibble feeders in squirrel-proof cages: one in the back garden and one to the side. The former is just half a metre from hedge cover whilst the latter is adjacent to the hedge, so birds are able to dive for cover very easily.

Some of the birds spend much of the day in the east side hedge in the back garden whilst others prefer the western hedge in the side garden, i.e. they appear to have their favourite feeders and resting areas! They clearly spend a lot of time sitting before launching out on a foray and this seems to excite their 'friends' to join in the party!  

John and Shena's emails included the message, "Please tell the inventor of buggy nibbles they have enriched the lives of many birds...and many, many birdwatchers!"

In my garden, my Blackcap only uses this one feeder, never visiting any of the other four. It is the only feederthat has direct access to thick cover adjacent to it (in this case, ivy), whereas the other feeders are more in the open. I wonder whether this is the trick with Blackcaps - they just don't like feeling exposed. If anyone else has had the same experience - or different - let us know.

Of course there are now only about three weeks or so before these wintering Blackcaps will be thinking of returning to Germany, and a wave of a million or so pairs will arrive from southern Europe ready to grace us with glorious song in woodlands across the country. Yes, Mr Blackcap, eat your sunflower hearts, because you'll need all your strength pretty soon for a flit across the English Channel and then an exhausting breeding season ahead.