what can I use to attract birds.....

Hi Colin and welcome to the Community from me in Berkshire.

What part of Spain do you live in? I wouldn't have thought birds would need supplemental feeding as that's why so many go there for the winter. I was in Extremadura for Xmas 2013 and there were great flocks of Cranes, Bustards and Larks and many others species which seemed to be thriving.

I suppose over here in the UK, sunflower hearts/seeds are the most widely provided food but I don't know whether they are available in Spain. A lot of us make raw homemade pastry just using flour and unsalted fat. This is popular with tits, woodpeckers, sparrows and starlings.

I think a lot depends on what birds you are trying to attract.

Hi Colin, a big welcome from me in France.

We have the same problem with peanuts, but found that some garden/animal shops sell the one's in shells. It's hard work though! Otherwise your local bird groups might know where to buy some. We sometimes get friends to pop a bag in their luggage.

In winter's cold we put out Sunflower seeds for small birds (tits & finches) & apple halves for thrush family & black-caps. Also water is important! A lot of birds eat fat-balls too.

There still seems to be a lot to eat in our local fields as the corn has been harvested but the fields haven't been ploughed, so there are a lot of grains there. Then as they start to plough there are worms & allsorts to eat.

Have you put any nest boxes up as that helps to attract birds to your garden too?

Hi Tony.  Thanks for yours.  We're above the Ebro Delta, huge numbers of birds incl ibis and flamingo, kites etc.

Does the fat and flour pastry get cooked?  Does it support itself on string or do you lay it out on a table?  Worth a try.

Colin, I haven't been to that part of Spain but I've heard it's wonderful for birds.

Most of us use raw pastry. My recipe is 1/3 fat to 2/3 dry ingredients. I use blitzed up sunflower hearts and peanuts mixed with the flour but if you can't get those then try all flour. The trick is to use the minimum amount of water to make a very firm dough. What you don't want is for it to be sticky. I then shape it into a cylinder, let it firm up in the fridge and put it into a wire mesh feeder, as below. You could make it into any shape you like.

I've no idea how suitable it would be for the birds you get in Spain. As Noisette has suggested apples would be good for the non seed eating birds. Thrushes are very partial to grapes (if they are still available at this time of year) or raisins would be good too.

Let us know how you get on.

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks.

Unknown said:

Do the birds cope with the cheaper in shell sunflower seeds?

Ours ate 125Kg in the cold winter 2 years ago. Only 75Kg last year. I specify the black seeds & not the stripey & try & find an organic producer. If you have farms around you then ask in your local area for someone you can get a few bags from. They are mainly eaten by tits & finches.