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Bird feeder observation

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  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    We were doing well with our bird feeders ....well the birds were. Our bank balance less so.    But today everything got snaffled by jays. Every time we turned our back they were there plonked in middle hoovering everything up.  I don’t mind them having their fair share but they were scaring all the little birds away.   

    What to do?
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Squirrel-proof bird feeders kept jays off our feeders, @Helix...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    philippa smith2 said:
    Enjoy them ?  Haven't seen a Jay for years - lucky you :)

    I’ll pop them in a carrier and send them over....we have too many and they raid the nests of the little birds. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited November 2019
    We don't get them round here - probably just as well by the sound of it!

    You need a wee cage or two like mine @Helix ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    We get the odd one or two. All the little birds disappear when they're about.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,718
    I have resorted to two ground feeders, one for the smaller birds with a cage over it and another one a bit further away without a cage for the collard doves and magpies etc. It worked very well last winter.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've done similar things @floralies, otherwise it's difficult for the blackbirds. I have a covered ground feeder which the wood pigeons are suspicious of, and they, and the magpies, eat at the open bit of ground by the shed instead. I put food in among the shrubs too, and the blackies and dunnocks etc rummage around in there. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    We had a Grey wagtail visit here for a couple of days a few years ago at this time of year ... probably en route somewhere else for the winter. A lovely bird ... I wish it would visit again ... 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276
    I keep hearing about Starling numbers falling but I've just counted 25 in the garden. Jays are actually more common than people realise, it's because they are secretive and happiest in dense woodland.

    Somebody mentioned Greenfinches. I've not had one here for what must be years now. When I was a lad they were one of the commonest garden birds while Goldfinches were scarce. Now it's the reverse of that. 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    But starlings used to be counted in their hundreds. @Fishy65
    Hope the ltts go and tell their friends @Rik56
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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