Help/Advice needed

Thank you so much...watch this space!! I may give the Russian vine a miss as just read some reviews about people struggling to get rid of it when it has taken over their garden lol.

Hi Gray 74. I was new to birdfeeding a couple of years ago and I had a very similar situation, with hardly any birds coming near to my garden, and none going on my bird table or feeders. I was at a loss as to what was wrong. Then towards the middle of summer I cut back a big jasmine bush that was near to my bird table, and suddenly bingo! I had all sorts of birds calling in. I was trying to attract bluetits in particular, and I was advised to just keep moving the feeders around and keep altering the positions and types of food on offer. I have been doing that and I now get all sorts of nice birds (inc an occasional bluetit!! ) and lots of goldfinches, blackcaps, robins, wren, blackbirds, and also lots of starlings.... I know they are endangered but I am less keen on them! I even got a pair of siskins and 4 longtailed tits this winter. I reckon the best thing is to keep moving things about and changing what is in the feeders. Good luck!

Thanks Whitewing.

I am jealous of your birds lol. I think I'm disappointed as I took all the various birds that called in to my two previous gardens for granted. I will try anything, so will have a go at moving things around. I am also going to get some climbing plants and a frame as Doggie suggested earlier.

Hi Gray74!

How are your birds doing? I am really jealous of my son's girlfriend - they live 5 mins from me and have a tiny back garden, but it backs onto the cricket field and has huge mature beech and holly trees along the boundary. She just started bird feeding last week, with a small feeding stand, with one peanut feeder and one seed feeder. Within 24 hours she had a pair of robins, pair of bullfinches (not seen much around here), pair of nuthatches, multiple great tits, bluetits, coaltits, and awoodpecker!!! I got REALLY depressed about my own situation, as I have been trying for 2 years to get a nice mixed assortment of finches and tits. I mainly get starlings and sparrows, but I have had the birds I mentioned above too. Also I do get goldfinches every day, I have 2 pairs that come daily. But it all looks so easy where they are. I guess it is to do with your location as well as the actual food you use etc. I have just tried an experiment, moved my bird table to an open patch of lawn away from my house. I want to see if I get any different birds or activity. I thought it may be that the table is too near the windows, therefore only the brave will come close. But as I also have feeding stands in other places in the garden I am not too sure that this is the issue! Anyway, how is it going with you?

ps I am in Cornwall, we have no snow here and we are all hoping the birds will head our way from your icy snowy gardens 'up country'!

Hi Whitewing, hope you are well! We have had a lot of snow since Friday and I now have a little robin which I am really pleased about. The thing I have noticed though is how possessive the female black bird has become. As well as the hanging feeders I have put a mound of food on the bird table, the male blackbird comes, fills up and then he is off. The female comes eats and then sits there for ages ( not sure how long she had already been there but I noticed her on one occasion and she didn't move for 40 mins). She has also flown at the male black bird when he tried to join her stopping him from entering the table. The little robin waits in the buddleia and as soon as the coast is clear he (or she) is in and out.

I am also jealous of your sons girlfriend, I would be in heaven if I had all those birds ( probably wouldnt get anything done in the house though lol).

My table and feeding station are down on the lawn so I don't think that's my problem, I think my shrubs need to mature a bit more.

Good luck with enticing the birds away from our snowy conditions. :-))

I'll move this thread into the Homes for Wildlife section as it's got some really good pointers for attracting in birds to gardens.

You may wish to have a look at our recommended climbers here but I would say that growing a mix of dog rose, clematis, honeysuckle, ivy, solanum and jasmine creates a really interesting mix if you have the trellis, wall or fence space. There are so many varieties these days as well so it's worth shopping around for the ones that have the best wildlife value (look for open flowers not doubles and those that offer early and late flowers plus bumper berry crops such as the native ivy!)

During cold weather birds do get feisty around feeders, trying to secure there own survival can lead to blows between many species. Usually the only way to help is to offer the same food at opposite ends of the garden and hope they get their fill that way!

Aside from things already suggested I'd recommend that you do some planting to encourage insects and things that birds will naturally forage on in-situ.  I'm thinking nectar and berry producing plants.  So things like honeysuckle, (scent, nectar and cover), catoneaster (berries and cover), echinaceas or any daisy family (great for attracting bees and insects), campanula(nectar and little trumpet flowers for insects, scabiosa (birds love the seeds). Don't know what your lawn's like but don't have it too 'pristine'... if it's got some daisies in it which are allowed to flower between mowing then again they will produce scent and nectar and attract insects.   Sunflowers against a wall or high fencing and left to go to seed are loved by birds.  Likewise they love a blackcurrant and you can have some to eat and leave some on for the birds.

Have you got a compost heap?  That can also help with insects and invertebrates.   Birds love feeding off those. If you can then some sort of rough/natural bit helps... I know you've a small garden so you'll not want anything too silly or ugly so how's about a small arrangement of stones and log with some planting in it for cover/seeds/nectar- maybe like a mini dry stone wall.     

Put some nest boxes up now.  When the weather is bad they'll be more likely to come to feed and they'll check out for suitable nest sites.   You can also put out some nesting material...e.g.  sheeps wool, dog hair.

You mentioned there's a few birds flying over and that you have a feeding table.   I don't know what sort you have but IME, the ones that have a roof on them seem to be more successful.... They provide a bit of cover and also an element of protection IF there are any birds of prey.  You'll see with my photo below what I mean.  I close the gaps up on my tables because we've a lot of birds of prey and I don't want them thinking it's their dining table and having easy pickings!  

You mentioned having fencing round.... that's good because it's somewhere for them to sit and check things out and to watch all your plants grow and eventually provide them with cover.   But don't forget that to help such as hedgehogs it's important that fencing doesn't go right to ground level... otherwise they can't come and go.

I live right by the road  in a cornish village and I don't have a garden just a front and back court  yard I have tried all sorts of different foods and feeders but im afraid I don't get a huge amount of birds just blackbirds robins sparrows jackdaws and one bluetit  but ive now decided  just  to enjoy the ones I have

Hey Rainy! That is funny, I live in a Cornish village too, I have a tiny strip of green in the front, onto a quietish road, but I have quite a big back garden. But just like you, I get the birds you have mentioned, and I have been trying for two years to attract 'nicer' ones, like my son's girlfriend has got in just one week!!! I am trying to be grateful for my one bluetit too.... but i can't stop trying various experiments to improve things! My latest idea is that I am going to replace a natural feeding stand made out of a branch from my apple tree with a much taller branch from my cherry tree, so that the feeders are higher off the ground. Hoping to do that today. But GOOD NEWS..... yesterday I saw TWO bluetits!!! YAY!!

ps I am in mid Cornwall - where are you? It would be funny if you were next door!!!

Hi im at Polruan across the river from Fowey