Cheapies corner

Hi,

Unknown said:

I’ll look forward to the results. Are you going to try your hand at other things too, such as nesting boxes? They are so expensive to buy.

I have some nesting boxes plans and was going to make some this winter.

Funny you should ask I have some nest boxes on the go at the moment. I will post some photo's when finished.

Graham

AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR GARDEN BIRDS.

We are still lucky enough to have a healthy population of House Sparrows that nest under our roof tiles.  having seen specially designed sparrow terraces for sale in RSPB shops and other places I decided to do a bit of recycling and use up some left over timber (the roof is an old bookshelf).  The model you can buy has space for 3 nests but as I like to think a bit bigger mine has space for 5 (3 on the front and 1 at each end).  Now I'm not sure that the birds in my garden were actually consulted by the original designer or if they just haven't read the instructions but only one box was used this year.............2nd from the right fledged a lovely family of................Great Tits...................The sparrows continue to nest under the roof tiles!!

Maybe next year?

An impressive construction, Norfolk Dipper - very 5-star. That's the trouble with birds, though, isn't it? One word from us humans and they do exactly as they want to. My birds eat the food I put out for my regular squirrel which, in a way, is payback time for all the other squirrels around who eat the bird food, but it's a little unfair on mine as he is very good and sticks to his own.

Squirrel

Like the thread John. {thumbs up}

Great ideas everyone

Love the Cold Frame and the Bird bath/bird/table ideas.  That is what plant pots dishes/stand are for and they are easy to use and replace.

I think that cheap, and cheerful ways of building and making things for our birds is a ecomonical idea at times.  Keep the costs down

I would like to show my pictures from my last garden.  More to the point the same equipment being used in our new garden area.

These pictures show my current ground feeders.

Tools needed:

One roll of strong wire from the Garden centre - gaps 2-3 inches square.

Plant bottoms (x2) to keep the rain of the seed (works great!)

Some plastic to tie wire and plant bottoms tied together  (ties you get from the Garden Centre)

We have two dragonflies holders to keep the wire container for falling over, or risk they risk being blown away in the wind.

You need to cut holes as seen on the picture so that birds the size of Blackbirds can get into feed dishes (we have cut two lots of holes on opposite sides of the circular wire cage)

The birds will take a while to use them, but once they do there is no stopping them, and all Bird species will use them with confidence  - even the Collared Doves!,  The plates are emptied by the birds every day, and you control how much food you add to suit.  Another good thing about these feeders that they keep the Magpies, and the Crows at bay as they are too large for garden feeders.

We have a Bird Table called a 'Tower' and I will show that shortly.

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Hi there

This is my new designer Tower Feeder made by Dave my enterprising OH. This is our anti-Grey Squirrel proof device to keep the Squirrels from eating the Birdfood.  They try to climb it from the base and they come across the double green plant pot and the plant pot girth which is to wide for them to wrap their paws around.  So they give up.and go back down to the ground again and mumble in frustration - quite funny to watch - ever seem a frustrated Squirrel!

This is our tower Feeders a mentioned, and it stands 6 foot high all together.

Tools needed:

Wire as before used for ground feeder 2-3 inches square

A plant pot bottom for roof (make sure that you have to fit over circular wire casing.

2 large deep plant pots - placed into one another and glued together - lots of girth, and depth so no Squirrel cannot climb over the plant pots.

A large plant pot bottom sitting on top of the large deep plant pot for foodstuffs to be placed in. 

4 Large Tacks hammered to keep large plant base and deep plant pots together (so they they can be detached to clean out old food stuff)

I thick square support pole, and 3 wooden support stands fitted to the bottom of the thick square pole to keep the tower feeder upright.

Use lots of ties to keep Tower Feeder well supported.

...and there you have a home made anti-Squirrel device

I forgot to say that the birds love it, and it is no bother to them to be high off the ground

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Hi Norfolk Dipper
Love the bird box - don't be too disheartened by the sparrows not using it. We have found with our research they seem reluctant to use them if there are enough suitable nest sites about already (ie: under your roof tiles). The fact you have sparrows at all is great and if you can build the colony up over time then when they run out of places to nest they will start to use your box.

The best way to ensure your birds do well is they have plenty of natural close by insect food. Without it their chicks will starve in the nest or if they get as far as fledging will be sufficiently malnourished as not survive. We know they preferentially look for insects on native deciduous shrubs. They will also look in long grass and around ponds, so any of these features around your garden will be good.

For the rest of the year they require a good source of seeds from plants and also from what we put out at bird tables. Some of the best seed for them are millet, barley, linseed and sunflower. If you can grow small amounts of this around your garden too that may also help them.

Hi Kathy and Dave
Love the posts with the bird feeder ideas. They are great and it’s very useful to have the breakdown of materials to do the job with. That’s the kind of thing that will make this 'Cheapies corner' forum thread work.

Do you or anyone else reading this post have any good garden tips that will save time and money too. There's always lots to do in the garden even at this time of year and I sure there must be someone hiding some pearl of wisdom under a bushel! Please share it with everyone, no matter how trivial it may seem I'm sure someone will find it useful.

Myself and colleague Adrian have been set up to jointly run a Homes for Wildlife blog on this site. So keep a look out there for some useful time and money saving tips for the garden. Adrian has already posted some great blogs on it which people have taken an interest in. More from me on Wednesday.