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Feeding the wild birds

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  • CatDouchCatDouch Posts: 488
    edited 26 January
    I wonder if perhaps it is a good year for Long Tailed Tits as I’m getting about 15 come to my feeder regularly throughout the day.  I only used to see them occasionally whereas it’s been daily for months now.  Absolutely beautiful little things but impossible to photograph, for me anyway!! I’ve taken hundreds of photos of them with not one decent one amongst them!
    You can bet they won’t appear at all this weekend as it’s RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, a guarantee that all the birds go into hiding 🙈
    South Devon 
  • Having replenished the fat balls and seed on the feeder, I was watching from indoors when a buzzard dive-bombed the feeder. I have no idea if it was trying for the fat balls or a small feathered snack, it was unsuccessful on both counts. I have never seen that happen before.
  • Papi JoPapi Jo Posts: 4,254
    Oops! Should be "siskin and blue tit landing", not alighting. :|
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Papi Jo said:
    Oops! Should be "siskin and blue tit landing", not alighting. :|
    Saying that a bird is ‘alighting’ on a bird feeder or a branch is perfectly fine @Papi Jo.    



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





  • CatDouch said:
    I wonder if perhaps it is a good year for Long Tailed Tits as I’m getting about 15 come to my feeder regularly throughout the day.  I only used to see them occasionally whereas it’s been daily for months now.  Absolutely beautiful little things but impossible to photograph, for me anyway!! I’ve taken hundreds of photos of them with not one decent one amongst them!
    You can bet they won’t appear at all this weekend as it’s RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, a guarantee that all the birds go into hiding 🙈
    I agree about the long-tailed tits. There have been very few around for the last couple of years but plenty this year. I am lucky where I  live. There are long-tailed, great, blue, and willow tits. It is really hard to distinguish between black caps and willow tits. They are so similar.
  • zakzakzakzak Posts: 178
    I have a feeder for seed. I think I have two family's of green finches and two of goldfinches. One minute this particular feeder is full and suddenly it's all gone. To day when I looked out the feeder was on the floor without the lid. I have tried for over an hour cannot get the lid and wire to stay on. I suppose I could somehow make a replacement handle. Just wondered if it's happened to anyone else's feeder.??
  • CatDouch said:
    I wonder if perhaps it is a good year for Long Tailed Tits as I’m getting about 15 come to my feeder regularly throughout the day.  I only used to see them occasionally whereas it’s been daily for months now. 
    I agree about the long-tailed tits. There have been very few around for the last couple of years but plenty this year.
    As a keen daily walker and cyclist, if not distracted by my thoughts about god and the world, I noticed them in our area for the first time. Lots of them.

    I my garden.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    @zakzak - if you get squirrels [the horrible grey ones] they're very destructive and can easily destroy feeders. Larger birds - crow family, starlings etc, will also pull feeders down very easily. If the different parts aren't damaged, you should be able to sort it.
    If you post a photo, perhaps we can give you a bit of help  :)

    We always have long tailed tits around here, but like many other birds, they don't visit the garden feeders very often. Plenty of food in the area for them.  :)
    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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