Don`t forget to feed the birds

tuppence a bag

Got a nice J on my bird table at the moment, quite tame actually which is very unusual for a J.

He's been eating christmas pudding, christmas cake, bara brith, sprouts and carrots, not going near my hanging sausage tree though.

It makes me wonder what the birds would do without human beings at this time of year and whether more birds die under these conditions?

They'd be offering their bodies for a lil' nibble.

We have a gang of starlings along with a few sparrows and a couple of Robins for good measure,there was a dove earlier also

ffs

I haven't tried to get to my water for the birds. Do they drink snow?

I think they'll be ok with snow, although water better.

I have been giving them a variety of food! Apple, nuts, currants, porridge oats, bread.

It is disappearing very quickly especially, starlings then a pair of collared doves came and hogged the lot!

Brown bread, easier to see. Just distributed a small loaf near Morrisons where the birds congregate.

-----------

bacardi breezers, plenty strong enuff. just distributed a pack of 6 outside the offy, where the chav birds congregate.

PMSL

I think that bird seed and corn and nuts is the best food for them?

^ Gave a crow some lead this morning, it didn't seem to like that so you could be right

put some brown bread out earlier and no birds have touched it

RACIST BIRDS
REPORTED

Had the same problem with mrs clarky's leftover vegetable lasagne Coachy lad, in fact I think they brought some back from last year.!!

lol Clarky . time for a new model ;)

It is said Bread holds very little nutritional value forl for birds, it is a waste of their digestive juices and fills them up without doing them any good.

Instead, those serious about dishing out treats should choose grated cheese, leftover jacket potatoes, breakfast cereals, crumbled biscuits and even cake.

I'm getting a bit fed up of people saying 'bread holds no nutritional content'.
White isn't very good, but it's better than nowt.

Regular bird feeders know what stuff the birds like to eat. Lay men don't and might be put off by all this anti-bread propaganda.

I can assure anyone on here who doesn't usually feed the birds, your bread contributions are more than welcome in this weather.
If you can afford to spread it with a bit of butter or spreadable cheese (fat content) the birdies would appreciate it even more.

most winter mornings i put out food for the birds

got a couple of wagtails and a robin which are pretty tame now, the wagtails wait for me every morning outside the back door. also blue tits, sparrows, crows, starlings

also get quite a few big fat very healthy looking pigeons - would these be OK to shoot and eat? 1 shot from an airgun @ point blank range would despatch it instantly

we live in suburban bromley, no idea about shooting for the pot but always fancied a go

I do agree with Tommy Toes bread is better than nowt.

When I was a kid, I remember my mum cutting up bacon rind and giving that to the birds.

Do you think they like mouldy bready?

It has frozen so hard last night I have ice inside my windows! Put an old baking tray and filled with water for the birds. The Robin has found it and really drinking a lot.

The Jackdaws and a crow swooped on the bird table this a.m.

How many different birds have you had eating at the bird table?

Table + hanging containers:-

Blue Tit
great Tit
Crested Tit
Willow Tit
Coal Tit
Starling
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Redwing
Collar Dove
Wood Pigeon
Rook
Magpie
Jackdaw
Carrion Crow
Robin
Dunnock
Chaffinch
Bullfinch
greenfinch
Goldfinch
Siskin
Wren
Pied Wagtail
Redpoll

* Long Tailed Tit notCrested !!

i've never fed em before but went to the petshop yesterday and spent £8 buying a little hanging thing and all sorts of nice grub for them. Haven't seen one of the ungrateful little sods yet

Once they twig, they'll be hanging around waiting for it. Have to get into the habit. Then the sparrowhawk twigs to where the birds hang out and they stop coming.

Went and fed the birds in the garden this morning.
The garden was then awash with seagulls.
Never noticed them this far inland before.
Must be cold.

Great having a Redpoll and Redwing. Has anyone had a Nuthatch or Woodpecker?

Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers in the large beech tree at bottom of garden - but not at any feeders. Have also noticed a Sparrowhawk in same tree.,

hmm, still waiting to see anything, been 24 hours now

crescit thats such a kind gesture to buy food for the birds give it time you will be rewarded :-)

crescit,be patient,if you have never previously put feed out for them they wont come straight away.but once they know that there is feed for them they will come as long as there is food. so keep it up and they will be a regular sight.

ok thanks guys, just put a load more stuff out for them now so they should be able to see it from further away

A kite is flying around, I did give it chicken carcase (just small bones as I believe the larger ones are bad for them?

Whatever you do - DON'T feed the birds.
Rather like the Ethiopeans, they'll breed and starve in even greater numbers :(

I, like crescit, went and bought loads of peanuts, sunflower seeds, wild bird seed and fat balls today. I have just been rewarded with a blackbird feeding. However, would blackbirds deter robins and blue tits who I would love to see feeding?

I think the balckbird might scare the others away but after he has stuffed his face the robins and blue tits may well appear but i`m not sure

i know robins can be quiet fiesty and the blue tits might be afraid of them i`m not sure of the PECKING order though :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY

Blackbirds don't frighten little birds. They all get on well.

I fed my birds this morning and unfroze their birdbath with some hot water. I put out seed, fatballs, brown bread and niger seeds. I also put out oats (for making porridge) as robins and blackbirds, in particular, love them.

Orioles, that was :) I have never seen Tom Lehrer before, so if you have any more please post them. Animal rights organisations would have a fit today!!!!!

Thanks, Clerkmore, about the oats. I have never heard that before, and as I have some oats that I did not like and have been wondering what to do with it has come in handy.

hey went out for a couple of hours, came back and there's all sorts, a couple of massive pigeons, a black one with a yellow beak and some tiny blue & yellow ones!

I'm a huge fan of Tom Lehrer, Annie. An incredibly gifted man and terrific wit.

Follow the links on the right of that song I posted (or put him into Youtube) but particularly look out for 'National Brotherhood Week' and 'Wernher von Braun'. Lehrer doesn't pull his punches.

There aren't many people I'm prepared to concede are better men, but Lehrer pushes it close :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer

I am in love, Orioles, although the problem is he is now over 80 years old! Why are there no men like that now? The thing I love about chit chat, amongt those I loathe, is being introduced to people that you would never know about. THANK YOU, ORIOLES.

One of the songs I saw on youtube was ' when you are old and gray'. This could be the anthem of some chit chatters as he sings that, although he loves her today, he will hate her when she is old and gray. I liked the bit after he sang the song when he said he wrote it when he was 21 and he did not find it so funny now - because he was almost 40 then!

During this cold spell I've been putting out about 3 pints of seed each day,about one pint of sunflower hearts in tubular feeders and 2 pints of mixed seed directly on the ground,after sweeping the snow.Chaffinches seem a bit dim re.the feeders.Even with no food on the ground they would never try to perch on the feeders though during the cold spell some have managed to do it.Counted about 20 yesterday-always the most common bird in my garden.

I hard boiled 3 well out of date eggs.Put one out whole thinking that it would be pecked.Watched for a while from the kitchen window.A magpie took a look then ate some mixed seed but ignored the egg.There was a carrion crow sitting on my neighbour's tree.When I returned to the kitchen later the egg had gone.Reckon the crow took it.I cut the 2 remaining eggs into quarters, then went out for about 30 minutes.On my return all of the egg had gone.Disappointed that I never saw who took it.

I didn`t know old boiled eggs were popular with the birds it makes you wonder whether a chicken would eat a boiled egg !

I used to put out a roast chicken carcass.Starlings would go crazy and dismantle it into fragments.No longer do so on account of my dog.Have read somewhere that grated cheese and grated egg are suitable for garden birds.

Chickens will eat anything.The bloke next to me on my allotment keeps chickens.They don't half smell in the summer.He feeds them all kitchen scraps,even jam sandwiches.They are especially fond of brassicas and,of course,snails.

going well, 4 pigeons and 2 little blue/yellow ones so far this morning.

http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/index.asp

this site is quite good, tho without knowing the names you have to trawl a bit, the little ones are blue tits

Crescit not sure about a pigeon black with yellow beak, sounds like a blackbird? Starlings come in all shades and usually a whole gang of them, eat up all the food the food!

bamboo..probably a rat took the eggs

Rooks,Carrion Crow or Magpies would take the boiled eggs. These birds diet regularly consists of eggs taken from from birds nests( and fledglings

Chaffinches, Dunnocks,Robins are mainly ground feeding birds - and wont naturally perch on feeders.

no sorry accumulator, that was probably my lack of punctuation, you are right my guide tells me that yellow beak was a blackbird and he was separate from the two pigeons.

Incidentally, the pigeons are about twice the size as your trafalgar square type and not quite as round but i couldn't find them in my guide.

I've also now seen a solitary robin and a magpie so have built up a nice following in two days.

This next bit is weird, I cut up a wire clothes hanger to make hooks to hang up the balls in nets, 3 on a washing line which haven't been touched but the other 2 on a fence ended up on the floor with the wire hooks missing. I wasn't around to see anything but is it feasible the magpie could have pinched the wires but left the balls?

One Magpie is bad luck.Go careful

Maybe a squirrel ran off with the wire hook bit as for a DUNNOCK bird i`ve never heard of that one? i will have to look it up.Even Vinnie Jones made a bird table in the Big brother house they thought he was a twitcher.Crescit it must feel like you have got your own pets now.Happy days :-)

A superstition i have is everytime i see a Magpie i have to say "Magpie,Magpie How`s your wife? 654321 change my luck".Then you make the clicking noise a Magpie makes and then say" One for sorrow ,two for joy ,three for a girl ,four for a boy,five is for silver and six is for gold and seven is for a story never to be told." I find it difficult to keep this up when there are loads of them about. click click click!

yes bamboo, was only another thread on here that prompted me to pop into a petshop, wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise

After cooking the sunday roast.. Put the residue out,minus the carcas of course.

residue would have to stay here so i could" de glaze" the pan and make a delicous gravy

Im going to put the dish outside to set..Then scrape it out and let it freeze in a lump.

what do i do now? 06 Jan 15:02
Brown bread, easier to see. Just distributed a small loaf near Morrisons where the birds congregate.

-----------

bacardi breezers, plenty strong enuff. just distributed a pack of 6 outside the offy, where the chav birds congregate.

very good

i have nuts mixed wirth raisins will they eat them?

only if you wear net pants...

Yes, as long as nuts are not salted
A dunnock is also called a hedge accentor. Often (mistakenly ) called a hedge sparrow.
The broken wire etc - will have been caused by a grey squirrel. They are a real nuisance - as they will raid all thefood from bird tables and hanging feeders. One tip is to add curry powder to the food. Birds don't mind it - but squirrels do !

Good tip that facts i was told chilli powder keeps the squirrels away not that i ever used it.I expect if the birds don`t mind the curry flavour they would like chilli to.I`ve often wondered which foods are not good for birds? i don`t think they they do cooked porridge cos it might stick their beaks together!

got a blackcap in my garden. they used to fly south for winter - must be thinking 'ffs'

winters in sw england. Is that where you are ?

been back to the petshop and I have about one of everything they have hanging up or laid out now

what's happened to sparrows though, I'm sure when i was a kid 90% of all birds were sparrows. I haven't seen a singe one??

I saw 4 house sparrows in my garden about 30 minutes ago.Apart from a single one a couple of days ago these were the first sighted for several weeks.The RSPB is conducting research into house sparrow decline.Changes to agricultural methods get blamed for declining bird numbers but I wonder if the installation of plastic soffits,etc has limited sparrows nesting oportunities?

yes i am in sw , well glostershire

yes i think the lack of nesting sites is a problem for the sparrows.

bamboo ya fυcking thief!

you tried to make yourself sound compassionate, when you saw that I started a thread similar to this 2 days beforehand!

shame on you!

I didn`t see your thread punterfleece

we need a jury for this

ttt

Bird expert on the box said "White bread only fills them up,when they give it to there young there is nothing in it to help them grow and sadly they die,but seeing as it`s not spring yet don`t suppose it matters.

got a few quailty street left over , not the purple ones but a few coconut an toffee ones if these are any good for them

anything high in fat,they need to build up energy prior to the breeding season.

il stick the misses out then, keep them goin for years

lol^^^^^^

The wild ponies and horses on Dartmoor are starting to eat the bark on the trees and the troughs have all frozen over

They relying on locals and nearby farmers for food and water for the first time in maybe 50 years.

still goin well here after 3 days feeding.

i think i like the little blue tits best, the magpie seems to scare the others and the pigeons seem to gang up too when it suits them. Even the little robin got aggressive with another smaller unidentified brown bird

i guess this is where the expression pecking order comes from

clarkson 06 Jan 14:28
not going near my hanging sausage tree though.
===================
Not many would Clarky :0 :0

Facts what are you feeding your birds on? Mine get c. 4 meals a day! I only put a small amount out at a time.

a) Cereal and currants
b) shortbread, cut up nuts and porridge oats
c) Cut up apple, old birthday cake
d) Porridge oats and mixed fruit

Hanging nut container which sparrows and occasional tit and starling
eat at

That sounds like a real feast round at Acca`s

Crescit, I am dead jealous of you. I put out food for them at the same time as you and I have only seen one blackbird since. As I have seen robins and blue tits in my garden occasionally, I was hoping to see more of them. I have put out peanuts, sunflower seeds ( although in their shells because that is all the shop had), wild bird seed and a fat ball. What have you put out?

annie - it could be the blackbird is scaring the others off. I've put four seperate lots of food in my garden and the blackbird sits in a tree and dive-bombs anything else that attempts to feed, except the moor hens which are a bit too big for it

Hi Annie, I've been back the petshop and now have one of everything to put out

I have different 3 hanging dispensers, one with wild birdseed, one with peanuts and one with a sort of greasy candle made of birdseed. The little blue tits love all 3 (particularly the peanuts)

I hung up about 5 fatballs and again its the bluetits love pecking these

i have broken up some more fatballs to put on the ground and all the birds seem to like these as they never last long

also a pile of wild birdseed on the ground never lasts long, i have more big pigeons than anything and they get tuck straight in

my blackbird doesn't seems to intimidate the others, he keeps himself to himself although doesn't like the magpie when he appears. the blackbird also loves broken biscuits

I also put out sunflower seeds and a sort of black sunflower seeds, they go quickly too tho not sure who eats them

Annie, maybe try a mix of stuff to hang and put on the ground, the big birds seem content pecking off the floor leaving the little tits to peck the hanging stuff

i never had anything for the first day, now i see the same guys come back time after time

gotta run, i'm off up the Arsenal..GL

do you think annie. likes 2 fat balls?

Very sad have seen no thrushes .

i have a blackcap that seems to have taken up residence. the others come and go but he never leaves! saw a kingfisher today as well

Sir Denis do you live river Exe or somehere? How lovely to see a kingfisher.

Notes from Wildlife Trust what to feeed, I gather they like tinned sweet corn if you have any!

* High energy foods, various nuts and seeds.
* Soaked bread (white or brown) dry bread swells in the stomach.
* Leftovers, e.g. cake, cooked rice etc. are fine, but no spicy or salty foods, or "gone off" foods.
* Apples, cut in half and put on a table or the ground are excellent for blackbirds and robins.

Sorry Sir Denis I see you said SW Glos.

Thanks, crescit, I will try your suggestions. Not one bird today :(

Ive got plenty of redwings and the odd fieldfare yet no sign of a Song Thrush. Sign of the times i think.