Local flock

While it is great to feed the birds and what we supply must help through bad weather there will still be natural food out there for them,I even saw hatches of flies yesterday when we were out. So maybe they will not be as reliant as we may think. Rats round feeding areas can be a regular problem and often the only answer is to stop feeding for a while. A small reserve near us refuses to have feeding stations for this reason as it is close to houses and not many people appreciate rats

Thank you pete

Thank you for the explanations. I personally had the same concerns.

Pete has a very good point about insects, and having been someone at the mercy of an infected tick bite many years ago, I've endeavoured to read up a lot more on ticks.

Ticks can still be very active at temps as low as 3.5ºC!

I have seen many insects out and about during the colder months of the year, particularly midges, and most certainly when he sun is prevalent.

Rats are natures hoovers and basically doing what nature intended them to do. The problem is we humans, generally we leave too much waste food around, which will encourage them to feed and inhabit the areas we live in. Because they are very resourceful, they thrive very well on what we leave around, and that includes bird seed/food.

What we do with the feeders in our garden, depending on the prevailing weather is let them run empty for two or three days, sometimes longer depending on what food there is still around. That way the birds themselves have to scavenge what has been cast aside, and helps to keep the wasted/spilt food down to a minimum.

Hi

I am on my last feed stuffs of the winter- I only put it out every other day now- so the birds are not dependant on it- seed will be all gone by Monday. A few fat balls may linger but that's it til November.

S

That's roughly how we do it at home S, mid to end of March down to just seed and by first week in April and its all gone. but there will be neighbours around still feeding so I suppose they never have to totally rely on natural food. On a little private reserve nearby a group of photographers took over the feeding in summer months so they could get the birds close for photos, I have very mixed thoughts on that.