That looks good @wild edges. What quantities do you buy it in and does it affect the postage the more you buy. Being offshore it often increases the amount of postage when I enter my postcode.
We have two feeding stations, one at the back on the walled in patio, where I try to attract the smaller birds although there are one or two regular pigeons. At the back I put sunflower seeds, nyger seeds, half fat filled coconuts, peanuts - all these are in individual feeders hanging from a metal stand (Guardmans) where there is also an open dish where I sprinkle meal worms and the wild bird seed . I throw down soaked currants and chopped apple for the blackbirds although I noticed that we have a resident mouse living in a crack in the wall, which obviously enjoys the dropped food. We can sweep this patio, as the nyger seeds do make a mess. However in the front we have a more open bird feeder and we put wild bird seed, fat balls, the coconuts and starling bars, nyger seed which doesn't appear to be visited so often by the goldfinches as the secluded one at the back, and sunflower seeds. We top them up each day, although do top up the wild bird seed 2 or 3 times daily. I think from what I have read on here, that it is the fat balls that are making the most mess, although they are very popular with the sparrows and starlings. It has been great to read all your comments, we all do things slightly differently although I am sure we have all given some valid points that are worth following up.
That looks good @wild edges. What quantities do you buy it in and does it affect the postage the more you buy. Being offshore it often increases the amount of postage when I enter my postcode.
That one is more expensive than the one I buy from eBay, and no meal worms in it. Ours is free postage whatever amount you spend, the other one you have to spend over 25.00. Don’t know about offshore though Fran.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
That's interesting Lyn. Not many companies give free postage. As you say you usually have to spend a fair bit to get it free. Will see if my postcode makes any difference.
That looks good @wild edges. What quantities do you buy it in and does it affect the postage the more you buy. Being offshore it often increases the amount of postage when I enter my postcode.
Always buy bird food in bags of 12kg or more if you can otherwise you pay VAT on it. That's why it's always so much cheaper to buy in bulk. Postage is free for me over £25 with that company and there's a GW magazine 10% discount code. I've tried cheaper foods and always end up with more wastage and this stuff doesn't contain seeds that will grow. They've also got very good ethics about using 'fair to nature' seed where they can and are part of the Birdcare Standards Association. There seems to be a lot of bird food mixes with rubbish in them as filler and that's the stuff that causes half the mess.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Oh dear that is rather expensive Lyn. Thanks for all that information @wild edges. I agree that the cheap stuff you buy has a lot of rubbish in it. I shall have to consider what to do.
I agree Fran IOM £10 postage is a lot of money - you could buy a few more kilos of sunflower or wild seeds for that amount. I checked out the ebay link Lyn, but they don't post to the Channel Islands - it is lovely living here but so expensive too. I make start to make my own wild bird seed mix as I am sure it is cheaper, in fact I already only use the bought w.b.s.m as a base and add halved peanuts, suet, currents, oats (do they actually eat the oats?) and meal worms to it.
Your birds are certainly very well fed GD. I've just been out to refill the feeders, put more crumbled fatballs out (which unfortunately the magpies are scoffing) and threw some sunflower hearts on the ground under the magnolia bush. Would blackbirds and/or robins eat plain left over shredded suet do you know? We're lucky we had 30kg of sunflower hearts delivered yesterday from Little Peckers before the snow got here, so that should keep them going for a month or so.
Changed the nyger seed to sunflower hearts. The bullfinches were quite happy with that so I think I shall keep it like that and avoid the mess underneath. Do still have a large bag of nyger seed to hand. Possibly mix a bit with the sunflower hearts to avoid waste. Will still look out for the "no grow".
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