Just a comment about sunflower hearts....I've always bought good quality and used to fill a couple of feeders daily with it, much to the delight of the goldfinches in particular. However, I seemed to get a lot of waste on the ground which after rain became a mushy mess! I read that finches eat sunflower hearts in the same way as other seeds where they roll the seed around in their beak as if to remove the husk! This led to all the waste which was maybe too much for the ground feeders to eat, as the containers each had about 6 feeding ports. I tried something new and used smaller feeders, the goldfinches now seem to form a queue 😆 and as a result, there's a lot less waste. To keep the other birds happy they tuck into fatballs, suet squares and pellets, so none of them go hungry!! Only problem is I can't get rid of seagulls who watch my every move by the feeding station...a downside of looking after my other garden visitors so generously!
We quite often get gangs of them soaring high overhead particularly when it's hot, they seem to hit a thermal and just float around eating on the wing, which is fine with me....but as soon as I step outside they're down like a shot! 😖 and close up they're huge and aggressive!! Grrrr!
I get very little waste from sunflower hearts. The trays catch it, and the robins, sparrows and dunnocks eat it. Or the mouse family that live behind the feeding cages Goldfinches are messy feeders - part of their 'charm'
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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I tried something new and used smaller feeders, the goldfinches now seem to form a queue 😆 and as a result, there's a lot less waste. To keep the other birds happy they tuck into fatballs, suet squares and pellets, so none of them go hungry!!
Only problem is I can't get rid of seagulls who watch my every move by the feeding station...a downside of looking after my other garden visitors so generously!
Or the mouse family that live behind the feeding cages
Goldfinches are messy feeders - part of their 'charm'
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...