Help: Attracting Finches, etc.

[Lucio]

Hi there,

I'm new to WAB and wondered if anyone could help me with how I can attract finches and other birds to my feeders. I am currently supplying sunflower hearts, peanuts, seed mix, apples, suet block and water, some in feededs, some on a bird table. The only visitors I have witnessed so far feeding here are a great tits, blue tits, coal tits, blackbirds, dunnocks, woodpigeons, jays (occasionally), a pair of robins and, inevitably, grey squirrels, grrr ! Anyway, I would like to attract more species of bird, e.g. chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, GSW, siskin, long - tailed tit and brambling. Any suggestions as to food/other methods of attracting them??? Greenfinches and goldfinches, I see, on average, about once a day on the beech tree just behind my garden, but they never seem to feast on the food I put out . I am also planning on re - doing my garden for wildlife in the near future, and putting in a pond and new plants (any suggestions as to plants to attract birds very welcome also). Thanks in advance,

Lucio.

P.S. My garden is a medium sized garden on the outskirts of London with a small wood and river nearby.

[aeshna5]

It sounds as though you are doing the right things. Sunflower hearts are usually the most popular with them. Nyger can attract Goldfinches (Siskins +Redpolls too if you're really lucky!) but I find they can be very fickle with it- sometimes it's like a magnet + other times they just ignore it.

Perhaps you need to reposition some of the feeders? Or just have patience. I know it's frustrating when you've provided all the "right" food + the birds are in the area, yet they don't use your feeders.

[artdemole]

This time of year a lot of finches will be in the hedgerows looking for natural souce of food. They often return later with young to feed and in the Autumn.

[jetgirl]

Welcome Lucio!

About 2 months ago I invested in a bird feeding station because I wanted to attract a more variety of birds like you, especially finches.

I would usually leave food out in a hanging bird table, which the blue tits, great tits and robins enjoy greatly.

Since I put out the additional bird feeding station (filled with normal wild bird food, mild cheese grating, fresh water, peanuts) the tits got quickly used to it and prefer it to the hanging bird table. To be honest the tits eat from everywhere in my garden, even the ground. Anyway, a good few weeks later I started to recieve a beautiful pair of goldfinches who seem to be the most comfortable with the hanging bird feeders (it seems like word gets out in a neighbourhood amongst birds, where food is!!).

The bird feeding station is positioned about 2 metres away from our enormous kitchen window (a neighbour pointed out that the birds would feel safer if it weren't so close to the house and more closer to the trees and bushes) which I thought was a fair point and I was going to move it but after about a week, the tits were getting very used to it so I decided to leave it where it was. Less disruption, plus the robin might get a bit annoyed with me changing so much in the garden.


I cannot express how great this bird feeding station is, yesterday I watched a great spotted woodpecker have a go at the nut feeder yesterday! It was amazing to watch so closely.

I would love to see some siskins next, any tips on how attract them?

[Lucio]

Thanks everyone for your advice, I will keep all this in mind and invest in some nyger (nyger, nyjer???) seed for the goldfinches (+ others, hopefully!)

Lucio.

[DanJeffery]

+1 on the Nyger seed (in a Nyger feeder). We used to see goldfinches in a tree visible on an embankment away from the end of our garden but never in the garden. In the snow in the winter we put up a Nyger feeder and seen and since then very regularly get 2 goldfinches on it.



Edited to add picture

[artdemole]

Originally Posted by artdemole

This time of year a lot of finches will be in the hedgerows looking for natural souce of food. They often return later with young to feed and in the Autumn.

Yesterday and this morning a green finch returned with young and was feeding on feeder station with mixed seed that I buy from Lidl

[Sprout]

i found the nyjer seed to be a waste of money as the goldfinches ignored it and prefer the sunflower hearts, even though the nyjer seed was hanging right next to them. at my feeding station now i have 4 long hanging feeders, with 4 ports/perches on each, solely filled with sunflower hearts. i also have a ground feeding tray where i put those pink suet/fruit nibbly things and dried mealworms. i have a tree nearby where i hang fat balls and peanut feeders and throw stale wholemeal bread under.
i get the whole range of finches - gold, green and chaffinch, and a pair of bullfinches. i also get great, blue, coal and long-tailed tits, dunnocks, robins and blackbirds.
as someone has already said, i believe patience is the thing. my feeding station is about 3 feet from the conservatory but the birds don't seem to mind at all and we can sit in the conservatory to watch the antics. the only time they fly off, briefly, is if we get up too quickly to leave but they soon return.

[shaun a]

Sprout you have just described our garden here.Nyger seed not bothered with but all other seed refilled daily.Our feeding staion is only 3/4 feet from conservatory and the birds just don't seem to mind.I have only seen 1 bullfinch on our feeders though a long time ago now

[AshLee]

Only one of my feeders is regularly used by Goldfinches. It's on a different side of the house, well away from the others. It's a few feet from a hedge, under a small tree, but otherwise quite open, 6-7 ft above ground and passed all day by cars and people. I'm willing to bet if the hedge and tree weren't there, it would still be popular, but the tree does help bring them in. The ones in the main garden are largely ignored by this species. In this case the food is the same (sunflower hearts). So it may be something about the feeder, the location, the proximity to a suitable tree for perching or possibly the presence of more territorial birds at the other location.