Hoping for some advice from those more knowledgable :) I've had blackbirds nesting my garden for the last couple of years and I'd like to feed them through the winter. I have been scattering food on the ground for them but the pidgeons get to it first! Is there any kind of feeder big enough for blackbirds that would be diificult for pidgeons to use?
Thanks, all!
Certainly a good effort. Presumably it's easy to lift off to clean inside? Biggest issue for this sort of thing is it's a fine line between letting chosen species in and keeping larger unwanted species out v ending up with something trapped inside, or at point of entry. Amazing how birds end up getting trapped....I've seen it with greenhouses as well as nest box entrances.
Hi there. Yeah and the roof is hinged. However, I’ve just seen a pigeon in there this morning! I do however think I may have a solution, as the company who I bought the cage from sent me a cage with only 50mm wide holes not 75mm, so I have emailed them to try and get another cage sent, and I will see how that goes. Hopefully it will be fine as blackbirds accessed my last ground feeder which had 75mm holes.
However…. this gabion cage has 50mm wide holes not the 75mm that I wanted, which would explain why blackbirds couldn’t access this cage but they could access a much larger ground feeder guardian I had which had 75mm holes. So, I am contacting the seller to see if they can send me the same size cage but with the 75mm holes. I hope so!
Latest update…. Success (up to now!) I measured 75mm down from the large holes I cut out of the cage and originally intended just weaving a small flexible garden cane through the other holes to make a perch at this height. However my mother suggested using some old wind chime bars (which I sawed to size) and tied them using metal wire instead. Not the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but if it means I can feed blackbirds (as well as the smaller birds) then I’m happy. Up to now I have seen both male and female blackbirds in it, and pigeons don’t seem to be able to get in (which is good) I am also getting fewer pigeons in the garden too, which hopefully means they are not seeing my garden as a potential food source anymore. I definitely recommend a Gabion cage as a great guardian for smaller birds (even starlings can access the 50mm hole one I originally bought) but if you want to try and help blackbirds too (as I do) then they are a good starting place and maybe others can find an easier way of creating the 75mm holes?
Well you are certainly making it work, well done
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.