bird tables

[seb ellis]

when is the best time to start putting bird tables out and feeding our little feathered friends ?
and whats the best sort of food ?

[Deb London]

I think the advice from the RSPB is feed all year (as long as there are no signs of disease amongst you garden birds). So you could start now.

Mine get fed on demand (luckily for my wallet there aren't that many to feed - not because of disease, just the wrong habitat).

Try sunflower hearts, suet balls (NETTING REMOVED) and good quality mixed seed. Peanuts are hit and miss, but can be a great hit. They do like live feed too.

Oh, and clean your tables/feeders regularly. Underneath too. I never thought about underneath until a post here alerted me to the dangers disease transmission.

[seb ellis]

what can i do to stop our big colony of starlings taking everything before the nice birds get a chance, the dam things just eat everything then fly off to the near by land fill site and top up ?

[Deb London]

Oh, so you are feeding already anyway.

The way I got rid of the starlings was to stop feeding for a while. They roost in the trees above the house, but they don't eat from the feeders anymore. Not sure if they've forgotten about the possibility of food, or the vegetation is too high for them. Now I really want them back, because I realised I enjoyed watching them. Be careful what you wish for (my new motto).

PS there is a fairly recent thread on Starling-proof cages knocking around the boards somewhere.

[artdemole]

Tables could be out now.Tits and finches are around in small flocks looking for places with food.They will come back many times with others watching the activity.Colder now so the finches are back as well. I just used mixed seed and fatballs which I have a cage for so NO NETTING .Also a suet block holder attracts several birds.

[seb ellis]

great stuff iwill take all this on board and learn to get on with the starlings ..