Bird Food for the Garden

It could be a chiffchaff, pouillot véloce in French. The dark legs and black eyes look right. They have a faint dark stripe across the eye and a lighter area above that. Hard to see from the photo. They are gregarious too, where the redstart is solitary. For bird identification I have found oiseaux.net very good.

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That is quite the frenzied bath! Great video!

Marijke,
In the reply box there is a upward pointing arrow, click on that and it will allow you to post photo’s.
Somebody showed me with a screen shot, but I cannot find it :thinking:

I use coconut shells for my fat mixture.

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The arrow shows the upload button for videos, photos etc…
You can also drag and drop into the reply composition window here…

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Thanks. It won’t accept video files though. Will go the YouTube route when I have time.

It could also be a Fauvette des Jardins - Garden Warbler in English.

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Other thoughts for attracting birds to the garden without “bird food”. We are fortunate to live in a part of France where thistles, amaranth and fat hen grow wild. So I let them grow in the garden - round the edges and in the scruffy corners (of which we have many). Their seeds are a fantastic bird food through winter. We have flocks of goldfinches who love the thistles. Also, if you have apple trees, if you can, don’t clear the windfalls. They are a magnet for birds like blackbirds, thrushes and fieldfares. And late butterflies.
And if you can, find space for a wild hedge and plant a diversity of shrubs that seed/ fruit and just let it scramble / ramble - ideal shelter, food and nesting places for the smaller birds.

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My excuse for planting lots of trees (mainly fruit) and not weeding ever is that butterflies like the flowers, birds like the seeds, everyone seems to like the fruit and I am happy to share it. I do wish the deer would leave me some nashi though.
I have lots of pots planted with citrus trees, olives etc in my courtyard and the blackbirds absolutely love fossicking about in them.

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We have berried hedges, wild flower meadow, thistles aplenty, a big patch of sunflowers that we leave, lots of fruit bushes/trees that we never net (from 8 gooseberry bushes we ended up with one meal!) and so on. Our garden is very much natural.

But we still feed the birds, particularly when there is deep snow. But well out of the way of local cats and sheltered from local sparrow hawk. There are so many other things that we are doing to the environment that are unnatural and far more damaging than this simple pleasure, so it is one that we will continue. And continue to delight in.

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Looking on google images I think that’s what they are Vero…garden warblers…fauvette des jardins sounds prettier though…x :slight_smile:

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To my onomatopoeic ear warbling bird is lovelier, as is gobbling turkey, babbling brook, dribbling chin, rumbling thunder, bumbling bee, and wobbling woo. :hugs:

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Juvenile Back Redstart bébé rouge cul

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Rouge queue ‘ö’, cul ‘ü’

I know ‘ü’ is a difficult sound for Englishspeakers: say ‘eeeee’ out loud, and while still saying it, put your lips in the position for an ‘o’, you should get ‘ü’.
I’m sorry I have no tip for saying ‘ö’.

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Your local agricultural co-operative is the place to buy bird food - in my case it was about 50% cheaper than the local garden centre.

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Thank you

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After thinking about your post I decided to start feeding the wild birds…I thought it was maybe a little early as it’s still quite mild here in 56…

I started off with two feeders inclusive of 5 fat/suet balls…then I went back for a kilo of mixed seed and a kilo of sunflower seeds and then a big bag of peanuts plus feeders…

No birds for a couple of days but now I am inundated with feathery friends…! :grinning:

Plus I’m crumbling a suet/fat ball every other day on the ground for the ground feeders and going through at least a dozen balls a week in the feeders…!

I give my ground feeders 4 yoghurt pots full of seed every day plus a crumbled fat/suet ball…

My next mission is to get them some dried meal worms…I didn’t know the French word for meal worm but now I do …I think the robins especially may appreciate them…:slightly_smiling_face:

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I was amazed to see so many magpie’s ( approx 12) pecking away on the lawn, too slow to get my camera! Usually only see one or two at any one time!

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We’ve plenty of natural stuff in the gardens for the birds to eat at the moment. The only thing they are getting from me are a few crumbled crusts… (my hair will never curl). :wink:

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So have I…there’s windfall apples for the blackbirds and sweet chestnuts that didn’t make the grade plus acorns and a few blackberries still…plus I’m surrounded by fields which must still have bugs and beetles etc…

And yet I’m amazed how many bluetits and great tits and tree sparrows and meadow pipits and garden warblers and chaffinch and robins and wrens (plus several yet unidentified species) are visiting the feeders and the spaces where I am feeding the ground feeders…

They are a joy just watching them enjoy…:slightly_smiling_face:

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After my decision to start feeding them and on my first expedition to my local bricolage I bought two…like cylinders of suet and insects…(plus feeder)…these have lasted much longer than the suet balls which I am replacing weekly…

The “suet/seed/insect cylinders” cost €7.25 (if I remember correctly) and are still going strong…I would recommend these if someone was thinking about just one attraction to feed bluetits and great tits…plus I since found wild bird seed in super u for €1.76 per kilo…

I’ve ordered 2 kg of dried mealworms today from zooplus…it means I’ll be living on soup and jacket potatoes for the next 3 weeks…lol…:grinning: