Thank you for your welcome and replies it's so nice to have others to share the enjoyment the beautiful birds bring to life Not really had anyone to discuss and get advice from about the visitors to our garden so really looking forward to sharing tales.

I had previously only seen 2 goldfinches for 5mins on a hanging feeder at my previous home but I moved house in 2018 and seem to have a great spot now to encourage many beautiful birds into the garden. I had a small niger seed feeder hanging last year and started to notice goldfinches visiting and the more feeders I bought and hung the more arrived!! At the peak in prob August we had 50-60 down at one time But they do seem very wasteful and messy I'm sweeping up a pile of seeds every couple of days! They've now moved on to the sunflower hearts and are doing the same

I'm not a lover of starlings and found it amusing that someone posted previously that they wanted to encourage them to their garden...we could donate plenty!
Here's what I've had in the garden so far;
Goldfinch
Blue/Coal and Great Tit
Chaffinch
Dunnock
Wren
Robin
Black Cap
Green Finch
Thrush
Blackbirds
Magpie
Starling

We built an outdoor aviary couple of months back to protect the small birds and feeders and primarily to keep starlings out...however they still get in through the 2" mesh which is a bit frustrating and disappointing but they can't really manage the feeders in there and it's definitely not messy now

Look forward to reading your banter...x

Should have said no matter how messy the goldfinches are I feel very lucky and privileged to have them here and love looking after them

Hi having just seen your post about goldfinches.l am having the exact same problems.it took me years to attract the goldfinches to my feeders.now they visit every day without fail.l did attach small plastic plant trays to the bottom of the feeders also for the the seeds which was discarded.l soon noticed that when bullfinches we're coming to my feeders . they always went to the feeders with the trays on the bottom.feeding on the left over seeds and not from the feeding ports.

In reply to michaelmyers2055@gmail.com:

michaelmyers2055@gmail.com said:
Hi having just seen your post about goldfinches.l am having the exact same problems.it took me years to attract the goldfinches to my feeders.now they visit every day without fail.l did attach small plastic plant trays to the bottom of the feeders also for the the seeds which was discarded.l soon noticed that when bullfinches we're coming to my feeders . they always went to the feeders with the trays on the bottom.feeding on the left over seeds and not from the feeding ports.

First and probably most importantly, you might want to consider changing your user name from your email, which will be in full public view, not just here but on the web globally, which could leave you open to unwanted attention!

As for messy goldfinches, many birds are messy, they're selecting what they want to eat and anything else in the way is discarded, and then become food for ground feeding birds (and mammals/rodents) like pigeons, blackbirds and many others.

As for bullfinches visiting the feeders, I'd be more than pleased to welcome them.

Finally, are you aware this thread was last replied to eighteen months ago, and on that note, I see you're a new visitor to the forum, so a warm welcome from the West Midlands.

Mike

Flickr Peak Rambler

depending on the type of feeder you can use either plant pots (for the staked feeders) or for hanging feeders attach a plant seed tray to the underneath to catch all the crap they throw about then its easily disposed of and helps stop things growing in your garden

Messy, Wasteful Goldfinches