A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.
Sign In or Register to join the conversation
I live on a estate where very few people feed the birds and was taken aback when my little girl said to me one day "mummy, why can I never hear any birds singing, where can we get some singing birds from" and those comments really hit home and we resolved as a family to get the birds singing again. So, armed with every feeder and variety of bird food under the sun and a lovely bird bath, we set up a bird enticing environment at the bottom of our little garden. Initially, we only seemed to manage to attract seemingly endless amounts of Pigeons and Starlings, but we persisted. By the end of the summer last year we had large flcks of House and Tree Sparrows at which my daughter would take great delight at their cheeky little dust baths amoungst my flower beds. Our absolute joy has been Autumn/Winter 2009/10. The birds are singing again !! We now have at least 10 Blue tits at a time, Great Tits, 4 Robins fighting a couple of days ago, Song Thrushes, a Redwing and a Redpoll, Sparrowhawks and a Red Kite. I put up 3 different nest boxes Autumn last year not expecting any results only to find to my absolute delight this morning that all 3 are being used. Two have been taken by the Blue Tits and a lovely Robin spends most of the day sitting on my terracotta nest pot. I have been so overwhelmed at how so much of a difference we each individually can make. When I walk the children to and from school the Estate is so quiet until we reach home, and it's then that you can really hear the birds singing.
Apologies. not sure that this should have been posted on this forum. Please excuse me i'm new to all this.
Just had a look at your webcams Elibee, and you have some activity on your fat feeder at the moment. Lovely to watch. Thanks for this website. It's brilliant - can't wait for the spring!
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Good for you Lynette. I hope to hear reports of goldfinches and siskins soon :-)
Thanks also to Elibee for letting us have a look at the webcams
Best wishes Chris
Click Here to see my photos
Unknown said: We have two boxes that are used regularly by blue or great tits - but one is in the front garden and one in the back garden. We installed a third box a couple of years ago, but this hasn't been so successful. Your daughter might like to look at our website where there are lots of photos taken by internal and external cameras - since 2001!!! www.biggonline.co.uk The webcams are back in action too (all 7 of them), and we've seen birds in all three boxes - though things are rather quiet at the moment, of course.
We have two boxes that are used regularly by blue or great tits - but one is in the front garden and one in the back garden. We installed a third box a couple of years ago, but this hasn't been so successful. Your daughter might like to look at our website where there are lots of photos taken by internal and external cameras - since 2001!!! www.biggonline.co.uk
The webcams are back in action too (all 7 of them), and we've seen birds in all three boxes - though things are rather quiet at the moment, of course.
Elibee. Thank you so very much for the link. Have just spent ages looking through all the webcam pics with my daughter. We were overwhelmed to say the least. Who needs Spring Watch when we have Elizabeth and Malcolm. The pics are wonderful and we shall be keeping a close eye on all your webcams over the coming months. I won't place a camera this year as the Blue Tits are around the boxes already and don't want to run the risk of one scaring them off. But, if they do use the boxes then after having seen all your pics then it will definately be something I shall be doing next year. I haven't seen my daughter look so excited for a while. Thank you so very much for the link it's amazing.
Hi lynettemj - and thank you for this.
I know a few other people with webcams, so if you'd like to contact me via the Feedback form on the website I'll get back to you. (The message will go to my husband's computer, so it would be best to mention that it's for Elibee)!!!
Unknown said: I won't place a camera this year as the Blue Tits are around the boxes already and don't want to run the risk of one scaring them off.
I won't place a camera this year as the Blue Tits are around the boxes already and don't want to run the risk of one scaring them off.
I wouldn't worry about scaring them off
I have some adjustments and replacement work to do to two boxes this weekend even though they have both been used to roost in since September. One is occupied by a sparrow and the other by a blue tit. The tit goes in and out several times a day but I am confident I won't put it off.
Setting up anew camera-eqipped box takes rather longer than making adjustments!
[/quote]
We put up a camera nest box in 15 minutes :o)
Wow, did no one else notice that among the sparrows and tits in the original post, there was a red kite? You know: that bird that was incredibly rare until recently, and is about the size of a buzzard? What a huge privilege. I saw my first red kite this may along the edge of the M40. None in my garden yet!
Aldi have nest boxes with cameras for £39.99 this thursday.
Diogenes said: Wow, did no one else notice that among the sparrows and tits in the original post, there was a red kite? You know: that bird that was incredibly rare until recently, and is about the size of a buzzard? What a huge privilege. I saw my first red kite this may along the edge of the M40. None in my garden yet!
I see red kites regularly where I live.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!