Hey folks,
I've been feeding the locals with a combination of mixed seed I make up myself and suet blocks. It generally takes a day or two longer for the seed to go than the suet. Anyway, this time I put them out the suet went in a couple of days but they're literally not touching the seed. Any ideas why this is the case? Seems pretty odd.
Hi Jason, I can't give you an answer, but I can add that the seed is going down at a slower rate here too. I can say that my Spadgers have moved on and the group now only comprises about twenty. I'm sure someone will have a theory. What species do you typically have in your garden? Maybe the seed eaters have departed?
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
It's a bit of a quiet time with moulting & migrating plus a great deal of natural stuff available with plants going to seed & lots of berries too, seen much dark stained poo around! Sunflower hearts & suet pellets going at same rate here with my small but greedy flock of Starlings & large numbers of Spadgers, still getting newly fledged young 'uns every day ... two this morning being fed by parents!
Make the most of the easing of the cost Jason, won't be too long before the birds are eating you out of house & home as the weather starts to cool!
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I tend to get blue bits, blackbirds, wood pigeons, golldfinch, greenfinch plus the odd sparrow and robins but they struggle as it's all hanging feeders. I've also had a siskin a couple of times and a sparrowhawk (which was awesome) so I know stuff is about.
I think WendyBartter may be right thinking about it. They absolutely demolished the suet last time and if the natural stuff is better than the seed, they're going to go after it. The one 'counter' to that is the seed has suet pellets in it so in theory it should be a solid draw. It was just really odd as the traffic literally stopped overnight.
I am mixing suet pellets and seed in the feeders too - and they go down the regular rate. Can I ask what seed you are using? I found a massive improvement on seed consumption since I moved over to crushed seed. I mix aniseed oil in it and the birds absolutely love it, particularly our robins, tits etc). There is aniseed flavoured seed ready to buy but I think it's more expensive so I got myself a bottle of aniseed oil from ebay - you only mix a tiny amount with the seed so it lasts for ages. It's good for the birds too.
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