Feeding garden birds

I know Starlings make a lot of mess but I am a fan. I admire their ability to mimic. https://youtu.be/30uQJcJNU3g?si=9J1g_9ip3PvyvbUq

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What a good question Angela…

I feed the birds every morning. They have fat balls that I put inside a sort of metal cage that hangs from a tree. The balls with green plastic netting are not ideal as birds can get their feet trapped, but I’ve never seen that happen.

I also give them mixed wild bird seed and sunflower seeds, on top of tree stumps, where they seem to like to perch, and also sprinkled in a long line on the ground so that I can easily count the number of arrivals.

We have around 25 doves that come every day. If I oversleep they wait in the tree. Other birds come too, a robin, sparrows, chaffinches, a woodpecker. It’s nice because the great tits and blue tits get really close. It’s over very quickly.

I get the seeds/balls from our local cooperative agricole. I’ve seen them in Leclerc Brico and Gamm Vert too.

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I have no complaints against Starlings, except that they eat up the fat balls so quickly. They are welcome to my garden for what they are - birds - as are all other birds. They were all here first, before us.

I get followed by a couple of blackbirds when I’m out mowing. The other day I went into my workshop and the male was perched on the push bar of my lawn mower and allowed me to get within 2 metres before he hopped off. He trusts me to an extent.

I’ve seen YouTube videos of a gardener with bluetits feeding from his hand.

Not sure if my blackbird will feed from my hand. Depends what food is offered. Mealworms probably. Yuck!

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RuralMaster fat balls are adored by the wild birds here. And they’re not expensive in bags of 6 or tubs. The Oiseaux Sauvages bags of seed from RuralMaster also are going down here better than Casino’s offerings, or Lidl, or Leclerc’s.

Never had that reaction here nor in the UK to Lidl’s offerings, and they really didn’t like Leclerc’s.

But before I’m back inside when I bring a new fat ball, there’ll be 2-4 birds come and one already hanging uupside down on the nylon net that I’ve used to susend it from a tree, pecking at it.

Fat balls have the advantage that they don’t seem to become unattractive to birds if they get rained on, unike seeds. Which this winter has been very relevant.

I’ve already diarised to pick up a few tubs of the fat balls from Ruralmaster in October for next winter.

Can I like this hundreds of time? There was an outbreak of trichomoniasis here and it was so upsetting. Finches would just sit fluffed up unable to eat/drink and then keel over and die. Spreads v easily without careful cleaning of birdfeeders. We rotate them and dunk in diluted bleach in between times.

We buy tubs of 50 fatballs without nets from gamm vert or jardival. Also square blocks, which last longer but are €1.99 each, dried mealy worms for our robin, and big sacks of sunflower seeds. The food bill for the birds add up to something like a bottle of wine a week, and gives us as much/more pleasure.

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There is a sunken flower garden in our park here in Shrewsbury called the Dingle.
The blackbirds and robins are exceptionally tame. I usually take some seed for them and they will take it on top of litter bins next to the benches just a couple of feet from where I am seated. I once had a robin perch on the toe of my boot.

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The Top Budget ones in Intermarche are €1.75 for 10 (11) if the packing machine is playing up. :joy: However, birds can become entangled in the nets and die. I have fat ball hanging feeders (Amazon.fr should have some or Action, if there’s one near to you) and I remove the nets before use. Don’t forget to make sure there’s a water source available for them. Good luck and happy bird watching.

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Do be aware, you may well be feeding the local rodent population too. More than half the food we but out was being taken by squirrels and rats, even using ‘squirrel proof’ feeders. It was only when I put a device in place to prevent them climbing the pole that we really saw how fast the birds ate their seed.

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I have a separate squirrel box with a wooden lid that I have made sure only the squirrel can open, full of walnuts and hazelnuts. At first it was the birds that stole the squirrel nuts !

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I spread several good handfuls of birdseed, plus 3 fat balls, around the bird baths every morning which gets eaten by mostly sparrows, but also bluetits, great tits, dunnock, robin, collared doves, chaffinch and starlings, over a period of 6 hours or so. One rapidly moving little mouse searches for any left overs at night.

Surprised not to have seen any rats, considering I was plagued by them last year.

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And the cats…

Since we removed our very popular and entertaining bird feeder we no longer wake up with tits’ wings all over the bedroom…

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And indeed hawks. We had a Merlin that used to patrol our bird feeder in the UK. I no longer put out anything. I prefer to let the birds forage among our bushes and trees and find their own food. Not least that reduces the likelihood of illness in the bird population as “hot spots” round feeders are far from ideal.

frankly, this winter has not been “hard” and there is a deal of insect life… winged and crawling… as well as seedpods etc… so a decent meal for most birds…

If the weather turns really bad… prolonged ice and snow… I put out seeds and bits and bobs… the birds know when breakfast will arrive and they gather in readiness…
I would never put out more than the local mob can (and will) clear up within the hour… :wink:

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No nuts, too expensive but fatballs as well.

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I get a lot of my animal treats and bird food from Action - much cheaper than the supermarkets.
Bags of sunflower seeds for Blue and Great tits - Leclerc etc for those. Bags of red peanuts in Action also cheaper than garden centres etc.

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Poor little fellow doesn’t look like he found enough to compensate for all the energy expended…

if you look closely the mouse picks up a sunflower seed and takes it under the circular bird bath where I’m sure there’s a small hoard of food, and comes back out almost immediately looking for more. She looks healthy and well nourished.

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Indeed - I thought she was beautiful but then I do love rodents!

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Another question for you experienced people - when do you stop feeding the little chaps? Or perhaps you don’t?