What food to leave out?

Hi pipit,

Just to add to waht has already been said.  I like Tj bought a large tub of fatballs that sat in my garage untouched all winter.  I bought instead the RSPB mealworm suet cake and blocks.  These were a great success, but having over 60 starling meant they were only lasting 20 minutes or so.

As a result I thought i'd put these in my previously unsued Guardian feeder and try the fat balls.  The bluetits now actually get a look in on the suet cake (insect variery) and the starlings and even now the Sparrows are eating the previoulsy unloved fat balls. I still offer suet pellets and raisins in my mixed ground feed which the starlings and magpies devour.

I find it really is all trial and error and you will get to know what works and what doesn't, then they'll change their minds! LOL

Blackbirds while visiting my garden occasionlaly do not stop to feed there unfortunately.

Sarah

Love the pictures by the way. Looks like you've hit the right ingredient

Unknown said:

It was the dreaded Tesco "big" shop this morning. If you thought going round a supermarket with a child is bad, try taking your mother in a wheelchair, especially when she's a shopoholic and wants to buy everything!!! (oh dear, rant rant)

Anyway, armed with all your good advice on what food to get for the birds, I bought a bag of dried mealworms, a bag of suet pellets and a fruit and berry treat fat block.

After unpacking the 52 bags of shopping and putting it all away I put the food out. It took daddy Blackbird about 2 minutes to find the food and mum was close behind him. Here's a few pics of their gourmet tea.

 

Hmmm, food's improving round here!

Whooah it's a bit tricky getting a foothold here!

Now, if I just reach a bit further........

 

Success! Now to take some back for the pesky kids

Well, thank you so much for the advice. I have very happy blackbirds!!

I'm going to watch out today to see if I attract any other birds to the feast.

Cheers

Pipit

I have found ,especially in the last few days,that the fatballs are being demolished very quickly and am having to replenish them every day,something I did not have to do even in the dead of winter! The bluetits are loving them.I have one brood just fledged and another any time now.I am putting out suet pellets,peanut granules,sunflower hearts and dried mealworms for the ground feeders (we have some blackbird fledglings in the garden) and the usual seed mix for the hanging feeders.

I keep an eye on what is being taken and put out food accordingly.Once I see food is not being taken I stop putting it out.I will probably keep one hanging feeder up and still scatter food on the ground just so there is always something available to the odd visitor.

I know that last summer I had hardly any birds in the garden and they did not really come back en masse till we had the snow in January.

Feeding birds is not an exact science,you just have to see what is happening in your own garden and act accordingly.

Rachel

This is a very useful thread and I thought I would add my two penneth (as the old saying goes).

I always have fat balls out and the coal-tits, blue-tits, great-tits and robin enjoy them. The jackdaws come early in the morning, before anyone is about and demolish the lot! I then put more out for the little birds.

I have sunflower hearts and black sunflower seed in the feeders for the finches, also peanuts.  Dry porridge oats for the blackbirds and robins. Live mealworms for the tits, robins, blackbirds. I also put out raisins and sultanas that have been soaked overnight and sometimes I remember to slice up an apple and put it out. I have noticed that the bluetits, feeding seven chicks, take the mealworms, sunflower-hearts and bits from the fatballs.

During the winter we had a wren that hoped round the circumference of the frozen pond every day, picking up anything it could find. I put grated cheese out and it did take a little.

I have been feeding the birds for over ten years in this garden and they do disappear over the summer to a certain extent but return in September/October. We usually have a glimpse of the robins skulking around when they are moulting.

Hi Pipit,

I was working in the garden yesterday and  to my relieve and delight saw the now confident juvenile blackbird, on more than one occasion!

Amongst the many Starling fledglings in our garden, there is one with a splayed leg but I haven't seen him/her for almost a week. I'm like a 'mother hen' when I don't see these obvious little characters. I know his/her chances of survival are greatly reduced. With feeding garden birds, we see both the beauty and, alas, the twisted-side of nature.

Best wishes, Starlinga

Thanks Starlinga

How lovely to see your juvenile Blackbird safe and well.

I agree with the 'mother hen' thing. When I hear the Blackbird's alarm call I rush into the garden to check all's well. My Blackbird nestlings can't be far off fledging now so I'll be on baby Blackbird watch soon no doubt.

I so hope they will be okay.

Pipit

Ah, Pipit, the joys of caring for garden birds and their fledglings. It was a nightmare last year when a neighbour's muderous cat joyed in catching many fledglings - he took them to roll on and was obsessive in this daily activity. Hubby and I was on constant guard and once chased him with a Starling juvenile in his mouth and corned him. Thankfully we starlted him that much that he released the bird. On one occasion, we were coming home in the car and saw him with a bird in his mouth but by the time I got out of the car he had gone into someon's backgarden but I could hear the cries from a parent bird. It was awful. I installed a RSPB bird alarm but it didn't work on him. I then turned Faux hunter on him to send him the message that my garden was my territory .... "keep off". It reduced the incidents and thankfully the owners moved away last Autumn. Could be the reason why we have a boom of Starling fledglings this year, much to the great annoyance of the neighbourhood.

We saved a fledgling from the beak of a sparrow hawk last year and I intervened in the nick of time to save a parent Starling from the same bird of prey this year. I know it is nature in action, but I can't stand by and not help the defenceless.

We have two pairs of breeding blackbirds in the garden and male is especially territorial, so the other male will sneak in when the other one is absent. I have noticed the less dominent one collecting nesting material.

Wishing your blackbirds and their offspring every success in their survival.

Starlinga

The same here! It's costing a fortune! When is the right time to begin reducing the amount of feed ....... at the moment, the juvenile starlings (lots of them) don't want to budge from my garden unless something spooks them, and there is only three pair of parents present? The little birds tend to grab some food when the starlings have gone for their overnight roost, which is about 7 pm, although they might get in an early morning feed before the juvenile starling flock descend upon us.

Best wishes, Starlinga