Feed the birds

I'm sat in bed typing this (int tech brilliant). Out of the North window, I can see next door's pine tree. Up the top is a Great Spotted Woodpecker. This happens a lot. I love this house.

Back at the old house, we tended not to feed the birds. It sounds heartless or irresponsible, but I'd heard they can become dependant on food sources & starve if their main supply dries up. I couldn't cope with the pressure - the risk of birdie blood on my hands just cos we had the audacity to go on holiday.

That's not to say our old garden lacked birdlife. The blackbirds were more than happy to scrabble through the compost & puncture the lawn. & then there was that time I was serenaded by a robin. We once had a sparrowhawk swoop all the small birds that were hanging out on the red hot poker one morning. We were one of the few gardens on the street with mature trees & shrubs, so we offered plenty of accommodation.

But that was the old house. The new place overlooks a wood & is hopping with birds most of the time. There's no point trying to hold a conversation with me if we're overlooking the South Lawn cos I've developed a bad case of Twitcher's Tourette's:

Oh really, that's fascinat... NUTHATCH!!!

Table for 4?

To get a better look at all those feathery critters, Hubby bought a seats-4 seed feeder. I was surprised by this move - he'd hitherto been firmly from the 'If it's black & it's a bird, it's a blackbird' school of ornithology. But he says that the quantity & variety of birds at the new place has piqued his interest.


The new feeder was instantly mobbed - they emptied it in 2 days flat! What does that mean? Surely there's not a food lack situation on the fringe of the woods. Was it a bumper Spring for chicks?

Fortunately, I've been able to dismiss the starvation theory completely - the neighbours have 9(!) feeding stations, so no one's going hungry. This gives us the leaway to be a bit more sporadic in our provision without getting all fretful about it.

After the success of the seed feeder, I buckled & bought a peanut feeder too. Both hung in the Laburnum all Summer & Autumn & proved very popular. But last week we removed the tree, so the feeders needed a new home. Some friends made us a bird table as a house warming pressie - time to press it into serious action.

Bird table house-warming pressie

As well as the 2 shop-bought feeders, I've had a go at an old school, half coconut shell affair. I've been a bit wary about the whole feeding-cow-fat-to-birds thing, but the RSPB reckon it's ok (with caveats). Their recipe is 1 part fat to 2 parts seeds - looks alright, doesn't it? Like a health food bar. But with hidden lard... hmm... starting to feel bad again... This bird feeding thing is a minefield.

The old coconut shell came with the house...

The coconut shell appears to be a bit challenging for the small birds - some have worked it out but the shop-bought tube is still most popular.

A visiting Coal Tit, captured in incredible blur-o-vision.
The only little fella brave/hungry enough to hit the seed feeder while I was sat next it.

I'm going to stop agonising now, & just enjoy our visitors.

Appendix: Rollcall

Since moving in, we have seen in or from the garden - if they haven't landed in our garden, they are marked with a star (*):

• Blackbird
• Blue tit
• Bullfinch *
• Buzzard *
• Chaffinch
• Coal tit
• Dunnock
• Goldfinch
• Great spotted woodpecker
• Great tit
• Gulls (assorted)
• Heron *
• Jackdaw
• Jay
• Kestrel *
• Magpie
• Nuthatch
• Pied wagtail
• Robin
• Starling
• Woodpidgeon
• Thrush (can't remember which one)
• Tree sparrow
• Wren