Hi Purdy
Haven't you got any hanging feeders? Thrushes won't use those. They are not very keen on bird tables either I don't think.
Failing that you can get Guardians to cover ground feeding tables which allow access to smaller birds but would deter larger birds.
There are examples HERE. Other suppliers are available as they say
PS. You are sure they are Mistle Thrushes and not Fieldfares. The latter can be very protective of food sources when they come into gardens and can be real bullies.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi Tony, yes I have haning feeders on a pole and on a tree but they chase away anything that goes near them even though they can't use them. I'm just waiting for the ground feeder cage to arrive before I put the ground feeder out again. ( someone told me they were very good, fingers crossed.)
But I fear they might do the same with that!
Thanks for advice.
Regards Purdy
What are the Thrushes feeding on? Can you provide something like apples in a different area of the garden to try to distract them from the feeders. Otherwise I don't know what to suggest.
I have a few small bowls placed around the border slightly hidden under bushes for the shy birds.
one of the mistle thrush was eating out of the mealworms and seed mix bypassing the apple the blackbird had been munching on.
The other was on the ground feeder eating the insect and fruit suet pellets. I'll try putting some food on a different part of the garden. What sort of food is too tempting for them to ignore?
Apples are extremely poor food for any bird - I would struggle to find the published paper now, but if memory is correct, thrushes can survive on them as a sole food for about 3 days before starving - which is why orchards get cleared of fallen fruit VERY quickly and in hard weather the thrushes move on VERY quickly.
Thrushes, and especially mistle thrushes, guarding food resources is something that has been known from ancient times, though most especially associated with berried trees/shrubs. One bird will protect such a resource all winter but only when times are hard and the ground frozen, will they actually eat the berries (which in actual fact are relatively poor food for thrushes anyway, and hence not a preferred food). In mild winters, the berries go untouched by the thrush.