How to stop seeds falling on floor?

I have trays under some feeders and they seem to do the job.Like doggie says doves and pigeons can also use the trays.

If a feeder is hanging over the lawn I don't use a tray as most of the spilled seed is eaten by the ground birds.The exception is the nyger feeder as the goldies make so much mess and the seed just piles up on the grass!!

Hi Edward,  I also use the seed catchers under the feeders plus ground feeders with guardian cages around them so the little birds can feed without getting mobbed by the larger birds.    

Here's the ground feeder and guardian cage ( I put a piece of thick rubber pond liner on the roof to protect the seeds from getting wet during rainy weather )

Here's the ground feeder inside the guardian cage with pond liner roof.   We raised it off the ground by using a 8 cobble stones and a large slate as a base.

The guardians come with tent type pegs to secure the cage in place.     The pitched roof guardian also has slider guages on each long side  which you can adjust to allow just small birds like Blue Tits in or larger birds like the Blackbirds.   With ground feeders there is no mess, the bits you can see on the slate are there because I put some seeds/suet there for the blackbirds to reach through the mesh.

And I use free standing feeder poles with a clear plastic seed catch tray attached to the base of the tall feeder which you might just be able to see on this pic.  I also have a baffle dome fitted to stop the grey squirrels climbing up to the feeder !

Hi Edward,

I've tried most types of feeders and haven't found any way to prevent birds "cherry picking" seeds and throwing the ones they don't want on the ground - especially with cheaper, mixed seed packs. I now use the RSPB's "No-mess sunflower mix" and (as madpenguin points out) every single scrap gets eaten up. The blackbirds, dunnocks, sparrows and collared doves happily "hoover up" underneath the feeders!

RoyC