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Hi all
I've been lurking for the past few days and have really enjoyed some of the discussions and pics, so thought I would post!
My girlfriend and I moved into our house in October '17 and in our first spring noticed that we had a pair of Goldfinches that had made a nest in the outer branches of our neighbours tree that had branched out above our fence panels. They stayed for a while but there were no signs of any eggs or chicks. Due to the vast renovation work we had to do (and still have to do) we had a couple of bonfires, mostly before the Goldfinches arrived, but one when we knew they were nesting. We don't have a huge garden but it is big enough to have the bonfire a comfortable distance from the nest, however the wind was a bit of a pain and I remember it seemingly blowing smoke in every direction. This was last summer and although they didn't leave the nest straight away, a few days later they were gone and never returned. We were really sad as we felt we had smoke them out, and almost certainly did.
We had purchased quite a bit of Niger seed and sunflower hearts whilst they stayed, but I think I only ever saw them eat once from the feeder, although the more I learn the more I think this was probably down to the feeder we were using (certainly in the case of the Niger seed).
Well at the weekend two Goldfinches came back into the garden to mooch around, still paying no interest to the feeders. Since then I have purchased an appropriate feeder for the Niger seed and sunflower hearts, so I am hoping this might help them to stick around. Unfortunately once they had abandoned the nest we decided to cut the tree branches back, but there is still plenty of space if they wish to nest back there.
If anyone has any ideas on whether it was indeed the bonfire that saw them flee, or if Goldfinches abandon nests for no apparent reason, then please let me know your thoughts, as well as any other tips on how to help them feel more at home in our garden. We have blue and great tits, blackbirds, sparrows, wood pigeons and starlings that visit frequently, but I really love those little red faced birds and would love to see them more often (we even named our house The Goldfinches).
Thanks for reading all of that (if you did)
Lorri
Kind regards, Ann
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Nige Flickr
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks for the help Alan (again)
Pictures aren't the best as they are through the back door and my girlfriend wasn't sure how to work the camera, but I think she did ok!