@lurnaz.. i get my suet pellets at local pet food supplier.. cheapest i can get is 5kg for 11.49.. how does that rate with e-bay and postage costs etc.
Have you looked at the RSPB's online catalogue? They sell all kinds of devices to keep squirrels and larger birds at bay e.g. you can buy a ground feeder cage which will exclude starlings or even a feeder which will defeat the dreaded parakeets.
Personally I'm cleaned out on a regular basis by jackdaws and squirrels.Also I don't put food on the ground because my neighbours are so worried about rats. (The woodpigeons pretty much hoover up instantly anyway).
We built a wooden frame, 2ft by 4ft, and 1ft high. we covered it with cheap rigid green plastic 2inch square mesh. We lay the food in the middle, and the little birds hop in and out, while gulls, jackdaws and wood pigeons etc, strut around the perimeter in sheer frustration. It has worked a treat for years.
It can be difficult to be selective on what birds you want or don't want. How can I keep the woodpeckers, thrushes and blackbirds but deter the jackdaws and squirrels and pigeons, but the main problem is the rats on the food the other birds discard. I trap them and then leave them out for the Red Kytes so I and the neighbours can't use poisons, which don't work too well anyway. A tray beneath the feeder works quite well to catch food discard but the pigeons and jackdaws love it too.
Feel free to send them my way. Any wildlife is welcome in my garden. We get nothing and I'm a bunny hugger myself. I firmly believe nature is important. I never see starlings any more! Just pigeons everywhere!
It's so sad to see how the numbers if Starlings and House sparrows have dropped over the past 25 years. Up to 60% in some areas? Stick with it Sweatpea93. It took me a while to build up the numbers that come to my garden. Where starlings are concerned....give them a bird bath, or shallow dish, always filled with water. It's a bigger attraction than food. Even in the winter, I have to add hot water to the bird bath, if it freezes. They love the water. It can be hilarious, and it only takes one to start splashing, the rest will literally queue up, or jump in and join it. Where sparrows are concerned, a little patch of hard packed earth is their preferred beauty parlour, and once they've had fun in your garden, they never forget.
I have a similar problem with wood pigeons and ground feeding birds.
I bought the largest wire hanging basket I could find and turned it upside down over a food bowl, little birds could hop thru the gaps but the pigeons could only reach as far as their necks could reach so didn't eat everything.
Treehugger - I've done just that with my bird table too and it works a treat. Its gapped so the blackbirds, starlings, and little brown jobbies can get in and out easily but the pigeons (who are quite numerous here) only get the discarded food on the floor.
Sweetpea how long have you been at your place? We didn't get anything for months when we moved here but slowly they came and started to tell their friends. Our hedge is now full of house sparrows that have moved in since we did. We even had a resident robin nesting somewhere nearby that will "announce" itself to anyone who walks in the garden knowing you will scuttle off and put some fresh food out while scaring all the other birds off so it gets as much as it desires!
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@lunaz.. i am glad that you have found a way to keep them all happy.. i have found it only way as i love the starlings comind in.
i rememeber when i saw the blackbird feeding at the feeder for first time.. took him ages to get hand of holding onto the perch..
@lurnaz.. i get my suet pellets at local pet food supplier.. cheapest i can get is 5kg for 11.49.. how does that rate with e-bay and postage costs etc.
Have you looked at the RSPB's online catalogue? They sell all kinds of devices to keep squirrels and larger birds at bay e.g. you can buy a ground feeder cage which will exclude starlings or even a feeder which will defeat the dreaded parakeets.
Personally I'm cleaned out on a regular basis by jackdaws and squirrels.Also I don't put food on the ground because my neighbours are so worried about rats. (The woodpigeons pretty much hoover up instantly anyway).
have you thought about squirrel bafflers? I think they are a good alternative to traps - eventually they just won't come into your garden...
We built a wooden frame, 2ft by 4ft, and 1ft high. we covered it with cheap rigid green plastic 2inch square mesh. We lay the food in the middle, and the little birds hop in and out, while gulls, jackdaws and wood pigeons etc, strut around the perimeter in sheer frustration. It has worked a treat for years.
It can be difficult to be selective on what birds you want or don't want. How can I keep the woodpeckers, thrushes and blackbirds but deter the jackdaws and squirrels and pigeons, but the main problem is the rats on the food the other birds discard. I trap them and then leave them out for the Red Kytes so I and the neighbours can't use poisons, which don't work too well anyway. A tray beneath the feeder works quite well to catch food discard but the pigeons and jackdaws love it too.
It's so sad to see how the numbers if Starlings and House sparrows have dropped over the past 25 years. Up to 60% in some areas? Stick with it Sweatpea93. It took me a while to build up the numbers that come to my garden. Where starlings are concerned....give them a bird bath, or shallow dish, always filled with water. It's a bigger attraction than food. Even in the winter, I have to add hot water to the bird bath, if it freezes. They love the water. It can be hilarious, and it only takes one to start splashing, the rest will literally queue up, or jump in and join it. Where sparrows are concerned, a little patch of hard packed earth is their preferred beauty parlour, and once they've had fun in your garden, they never forget.
I have a similar problem with wood pigeons and ground feeding birds.
I bought the largest wire hanging basket I could find and turned it upside down over a food bowl, little birds could hop thru the gaps but the pigeons could only reach as far as their necks could reach so didn't eat everything.
Treehugger - I've done just that with my bird table too and it works a treat. Its gapped so the blackbirds, starlings, and little brown jobbies can get in and out easily but the pigeons (who are quite numerous here) only get the discarded food on the floor.
Sweetpea how long have you been at your place? We didn't get anything for months when we moved here but slowly they came and started to tell their friends. Our hedge is now full of house sparrows that have moved in since we did. We even had a resident robin nesting somewhere nearby that will "announce" itself to anyone who walks in the garden knowing you will scuttle off and put some fresh food out while scaring all the other birds off so it gets as much as it desires!