The birds to your feeders

[The_Doctor]

So how many species of bird visit your bird feeders/tables and which species?
Also what tupes of seed do you use and how many feeders do you have?

I'm looking to attract more species to my feeders and wondering what the best way to do that is. I have 3 feeders and use:
Niger seed
Black sunflower seeds
Ground seed
Suet balls
Peanuts
Sunflower seed hearts

And currently I'm attracting species such as:
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Chaffinch
Blue tit
Great tit
Yellowhammer
House sparrow
Collared dove
Robin
Redpoll

These are the ones I'm 100% sure off, but there are probably a few more that I'm not sure about. I live in Northern Ireland near Whiterock BTW.

[Elizabeth B]

We have tall mature trees and hedges on two sides of the garden, with a lot of shrubs providing plenty of cover. (Ours is a garden for birds. We like an earlier SpringWatch motto - "Say YES to mess)! It's about 55' square.

Blackbird
Bluetit
Bullfinch
Crow
Chaffinch
Coal tit
Collared dove
Dunnock
**Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Great spotted woodpecker
Great tit
Greenfinch
House sparrow (recently seen one or two - used to have lots)
Jackdaw
Jay
Long tailed tit
Magpie
*Mistle thrush
Nuthatch
*Redpoll
Redwing
Ring necked parakeet
Robin
*Siskin
Song thrush
Sparrowhawk
Starling
Woodpigeon
Wren

** very rarely * occasionally

Sunflower hearts, black sunflower seed, peanuts, niger seed (hardly ever used), home made suet blocks (in a caged feeder), fat mixture (in a dish on the bird table), mixed seed, mealworms in two caged feeders, water (fresh each day).

Each day, I scatter a mixture of porridge oats, sunflower hearts, chopped peanuts and mixed seed on the lawn. I saved lots of acorns last autumn, and put some out a few times a week - these are taken by jays (and probably squirrels).

Twelve feeders, a bird table, bird bath and a dish for water.

[HanDiiMaNz]

Hello,

To be honest I don't get a wide variety of birds to my garden, probably because of where I live, suburban London, moving soon so it's all dandy. Here goes:

Goldfinch : 5+
Greenfinch: 5+
Woodpigeon: 7+
Dunnock: 4+
Blue tit: 5+
Great tit: 5+
Chaffinch: at least one pair.
Magpie: 5+
Carrion crow: 4+
Sparrowhawk: One passing over.
House sparrow: 5+
Lesser-black backed gull: 1 - 5 flying overhead.
Black-headed gull: 1- 5 flying overhead.

I have a feeding station in use with two feeders with sunflower hearts and one with niger seed. I used to supply suet blocks and fat balls but the amount of Starling that it used to attract was a bit too extreme. I scatter mixed seed on the ground everyday for the ground feeders such as Chaffinch, Dunnock, Woodpigeon and other species but the Chaffinch do seem to enjoy jumping on the feeder!

My station is just under the conifer tree which supplies cover for the birds if they needed to escape a passing sprawk or cat when feeding but it could also be seen from overhead.

Thanks, HanD

[dubqueen]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth B

(Ours is a garden for birds. We like an earlier SpringWatch motto - "Say YES to mess)! It's about 55' square.

I like the sound of your garden! I was 'reliably' informed by one of my work colleagues that 'they are going to ban people feeding birds because of the mess' Needless to say, I LOL'd at her statement!!! She IS one of the most reactionary people I know....you know the type I mean Im sure!

[Elizabeth B]

Originally Posted by HanDiiMaNz

I used to supply suet blocks and fat balls but the amount of Starling that it used to attract was a bit too extreme.
Thanks, HanD

A starling has never managed to get inside this caged feeder:

Originally Posted by dubqueen

I like the sound of your garden! I was 'reliably' informed by one of my work colleagues that 'they are going to ban people feeding birds because of the mess' Needless to say, I LOL'd at her statement!!! She IS one of the most reactionary people I know....you know the type I mean Im sure!

Thanks, dubqueen - fortunately we don't have any "weirdos" in our neighbourhood.

[AshLee]

I have 4 feeders and two tables (London suburbs).

Sunflower (x2): House Sparrows, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Blue/Coal/Great Tits.

Mixed seed: House Sparrows mainly.

Suet ball: young birds seem to like this, House Sparrows and Goldcrest occasionally.

Tables and underneath feeders: Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Starlings sometimes, occasional Fieldfare in winter.

Experience has taught me that I am unlikely to be doing anything wrong, but that you can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear (basically the area is rubbish for birds).

The only thing that should be here and is missing is the Greenfinch. It is absent from the whole area at the moment.

[Snuckie]

Hi

I started with 2 feeders and it's grown. I also bought seed mix etc but my birds are fussy so now I make mixes for them

I have 3 hanging feeders with sunflower hearts and black sunflower seeds mixed in them.- greenfinch, goldfinch, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, siskins, - between them they can get through 3 foot of seed in a day.

1 small feeder with striped sunflower seeds mixed with peanuts. - tits, gt spotted woodpecker.

1 small home made tray and a tray attached to my feeding station with oats, peanut kibbles, suet, raisins and dried mealworms. - robins, chaffinch, greenfinch, tits, blackbird.

Ground feed a mixture of sunflower seeds, peanut kibbles, mixed corn, hemp, millet, oats, raisins, dried mealworms, suet - mostly chaffinch but also greenfinch, tree sparrow, dunnock, black bird and 2 domestic moggys (they like the mealworms), Badgers clean up the left over seeds etc at night.

3 suet blocks- every one likes suet especially the woodpecker. I had originally put small blocks loose on the trays but the crows kept nicking them so I now have a block fastened to the tray.

I also supply water. We have plenty of mature trees in the garden and in the woods behind our property as well.
Also have seen swallows, crows, woodpigeons and a treecreeper but have never seen the tree creeper on any of the feeders.

[The_Doctor]

Bit of a co-winky-dink but my mum just bought a feeding station at around 7.99 today.
Got it set up and put the current feeders on it, also topped them up. Fresh water and everything. Mum also bought some suet blocks with dried mealworms in them and a cage to hang it in.
Within minutes, great tits and blue tits were the first visitors to use the new feeding station. They weren't that cautious....just hungry.
Poor goldfinches need to get used to it though. They landed on the washing line a few metres away and were so confused. However they quickly caught on. They are very cautious and have been darting back and forth to it without feeding. It'll take a while but they'll get used to it.
However I did spot them along with a few Redpolls tucking into the Niger seed in the early evening. Chaffinches and Greenfinches no where near it.

[slimrbp]

Our garden is about 10-12m by about 8m in Elmers End near Beckenham in Kent.

In our garden we have a mature Lilac tree, and next door have apear tree with somw holly and another overgrown shrub growing under it which groes into our garden.
I have a feeder pole which has fat balls, a Guardian enclosed mealworm feeder and another feeder with a no-mess seed mix.
At the bottom of the pole is a tray which I put a small bowl of mealworms and suet pellets for the larger birds.

On the lliac tree we hang coconuts with a suet mix in and there is a ground feeder witha a guardian (lets in most birds but not the neighbourhood cats) which I put suet pellets in.

Regular visitors:

Robin
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Starling
Collared Dove
Wood Pigeon
Magpie
Greenfinch
Goldfinch

Less frequent (not always there but observed this year)

Chaffinch
Blackbird
Greater spotted woodpecker
Blackcap
Dunnock
Redwing
Ring Necked Parakeet
Goldcrest
Carrion Crow

We have been in the house just over a year now and we are starting to improve the garden for wildlife.

[JV]

i have:
sunflower hearts
nijer seeds
crushed peanuts (they like them more thaan whole in the feeder!)
sunflower seeds
fat cake
fat balls

I get:
Blue tits
Great tits
Starlings
Wood pigeons
Collared doves
chaffinches (sometimes)
goldfinches (sometimes)
rboins
blackbirds
wrens (sometimes)