Nice shot of that goldfinch, @wild edges; it certainly does not look very amicable. What are "self-heal"?
Now that my crab-apple tree 'Everest' has shed all of its leaves and is all decorated with the tiny apples, I have again hung a few grease & seeds balls for the little birdies. It did not take long for the tits (blue & black) to spot them.
Nice shot of that goldfinch, @wild edges; it certainly does not look very amicable. What are "self-heal"?
Thanks. Self-heal is a common name for Prunella Vulgaris, a nice little wild-flower that I've been trying to spread around the garden with limited success. Possibly the problem is the seeds are very popular with the birds so only a few survive to germinate.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Sadly there won't be any visiting my feeders today and I know they will be empty but the weather is so bad I can't get to the allotment to replenish them. Always empty within 24 hours. Ran out of Nyjer seed and well known pet shop only had 6kg bags available so it will be interesting to see how long it lasts. Don't think it will be long. There must be thousands of seeds in one bird feeder imagine all those "pecks".
Have a feeder full of sunflower hearts as well @wildedges. At first they did ignore the nyjer seed but now they are back on it. At least the sunflower hearts aren't as expensive. They seem to have ignored the fat balls but may now have to resort to them in this weather. Hopefully there will be a lull in this storm tomorrow so that I can refill them. I will have to close my eyes to the damage on the allotment
We have a large garden so have three feeding stations. The sparrows and some other birds use one mainly for sunflower hearts, bird seed and fat balls, and we have goldfinches, tits and robins using another more secluded feeding station where we put the nyger seeds & peanuts in containers as well as the other feeders mentioned, I am going to try a half coconut and a string of peanuts at the second feeding station soon too.
@Guernsey Donkey2 Do the robins in your garden use the feeders? I have one who likes to watch what I am doing and even sat on the back of a chair next to me (when I was resting!). He seems to prefer the ground for feeding and I have never seen him on any of the feeders but then I am not there 24/7.
@Fran IOM the robins are ground feeding birds, they don't perch on the feeders but i've seen one fly to it and get a sunflower heart and fly off again.
@Logan4 I must have misunderstood Guernsey Donkey2 when mentioning robins and bird feeders. Thanks for that. Hope the other birds drop enough sunflower hearts for him to find on the ground
My robins very quickly learned how to use the feeders in the cage, as did all the ground feeders. Either that or starve There's also two sunflower heart feeders which they use. They have a go at everything. The dunnocks also use them, although the heart feeders have trays so it's like a bird table anyway. The trays help contain the mess the goldies make I've only had the odd visit in the last couple of years from goldies, and the general consensus here was not to bother with nyger seed, as most people found they loved the sunflower hearts. Since I already had those out for the other birds, I just kept crossing my fingers, and this summer it's been a regular goldfinch love in, with 'charms' of more than twenty appearing at one time. They've even ventured into the cage now and again for a nosey
Taken through my window in October, all the little birds use the feeders quite happily. Great entertainment, and only about eight feet from the house. That's a juvenile goldie - his head wasn't completely red at that point.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
There's also two sunflower heart feeders which they use. They have a go at everything. The dunnocks also use them, although the heart feeders have trays so it's like a bird table anyway. The trays help contain the mess the goldies make
I've only had the odd visit in the last couple of years from goldies, and the general consensus here was not to bother with nyger seed, as most people found they loved the sunflower hearts. Since I already had those out for the other birds, I just kept crossing my fingers, and this summer it's been a regular goldfinch love in, with 'charms' of more than twenty appearing at one time. They've even ventured into the cage now and again for a nosey
Taken through my window in October, all the little birds use the feeders quite happily. Great entertainment, and only about eight feet from the house.
That's a juvenile goldie - his head wasn't completely red at that point.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...