I find the goldfinches are very messy eaters. The blue and great tits pop on the feeders, grab a sunflower heart and fly off. The goldfinches seem to enjoy throwing a few about before they find the 'special' seed. I sprinkled a bag of compost over the seed spillage under our holders in an effort to stop the greenfinches eating off the ground.
The easy to clean feeders may be expensive but the ones I have come with a lifetime guarantee.You don't need to buy them all at once,I had mine as Christmas/Birthday presents.I also keep a spare clean one in the garage so that I can do a quick changeover,clean the dirty one and leave that in the garage till the next time.
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Liri
I find the goldfinches are very messy eaters. The blue and great tits pop on the feeders, grab a sunflower heart and fly off. The goldfinches seem to enjoy throwing a few about before they find the 'special' seed. I sprinkled a bag of compost over the seed spillage under our holders in an effort to stop the greenfinches eating off the ground.
Pansyface: is the 'cementy' leg condition either mites or a virus, both described briefly on this page: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/warts
For cleaning feeders I used to use Milton, but now I use Arklens, available from the RSPB reserves, catalogue or website: http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=ark-klens+cleanser
Still, trich is a horrible problem. We see infected birds at our local RSPB reserve even, and in the garden it seems to come and go. Here's the information about it from the BTO, and note info links about other diseases on the left hand menu: http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/gardens-wildlife/garden-birds/disease/trichomonosis
The easy to clean feeders may be expensive but the ones I have come with a lifetime guarantee.You don't need to buy them all at once,I had mine as Christmas/Birthday presents.I also keep a spare clean one in the garage so that I can do a quick changeover,clean the dirty one and leave that in the garage till the next time.
http://www.livingwithbirds.com/bird-feeders/the-one-new/