Any keen bird feeders out there?

A question about : Any keen bird feeders out there?

Just wondered really. We started feeding the birds last winter after we lost one of our (keen hunter) cats. I was amazed at the number of variety of birds who started coming, really quite quickly.

We've seen several juveniles this spring and really looking forward to winter to see who visits again. I'm hoping the goldfinches come back as they were just beautiful to watch,

Best answers:

• Yes Chick...they cost a fortune, lol. Neighbour is an entomologist so lots of natural food about as well.
  We have seen a willow warbler and a family of reed something (buntings perhaps).Usual sparrows and pigeons. Out fair share of swifts which don't cost us anything. Dunnocks too.
  Starlings have gone to the fields now but they raised their young here. Great hobby. Bins. essential.
• They do, don't they?! I'm wondering how I'll afford it too!
  I've seen blue tits, coal tits, great tits, sparrows, dunnocks, robins, goldfinches, chaffinches, nuthatch, thrush, blackbirds, wagtail, pigeons, doves, starlings and jackdaws in our garden - off the top of my head, may be more. We often hear owls (think they're tawny owls) at night too.
  Wondering if we'll get a lot this winter, hope so.
• If you have L*dl or Ald* near you it's worth subscribing to their email lists and watching for when they do cheap bird food. They seem to do it a bit before the big bird counts from RSPB, we try and stock up then! Also random other times, and sometimes it hangs around in the shops for a while - guess it partly depends on how many keen garden birdwatchers there around down your way!
  We get a fair few birds in our back garden, but except in winter can't seem to attract them to front garden. Mind you, a couple of local cats seem to haunt the front. We take a water pistol to any that come into the back! It does seem to have put them off a bit! (BTW we are catlovers, but don't have a cat at the moment, we would never hurt a cat.)
• Home Bargains is really cheap (pardon the pun) for wild bird food, I always stock up there when I go into town, the birds here go crazy for sunflower hearts, suet nibbles and fat balls.
• Thanks! I did know home bargains were good for bird food, but unfortunately we're out in the sticks and miles away from hb Wish we had one closer as it is my favourite store!
  We do have an Aldi nearby though, so will definitely keep my eye out for them selling bird food, thanks for the tip.
  The birds here love sunflower hearts too jenie, I have just bought a larger feeder with several ports and filled it with them. The sparrows were funny at first, they clearly wanted to get the hearts but were worried it was some kind of trap and kept flying away as soon as they got close! They're all on it today now though.
  Favourite food at the minute is pizza crusts, cheese and for the blackbirds, grapes. The male blackbird in our garden will always appear within 20 mins if some grapes are put out!
• I love to feed the local birds, we attract numerous types including nuthatches and woodpeckers.
  SWMBO picked up a 20kg sack of seed at B&M last week for Ј4.99, not "high quality" but it'll attract birds for a fraction.
  I used to purchase my peanuts at our local Wilko's, but they seem to have noticed how it flew off the shelf and nigh on doubled the price!
• I too love feeding the birds, I know that some of the feeds are expensive , but the cheaper stuff contain so much wheat plus they bulk it up with dog biscuit crumbs which the birds dont like, so its a false economy to buy the
  cheaper branded food.........Plus it doesnt attract the birds....
  I go to the local animal feed shop where I get my hens grub and they do whatever mixture you want ........Sunflowers go down very well, nyger for the siskins and goldfinches........I do mix hemp, millett, rape seed, which the sparrows love a lot and put that in a long feeder, suet and porridge oats on the tables for the blackbirds.......Birds eat better than we do here ....
• I boil a handful of basic white rice for the birds, (40p kg in Asda/Tesco) of a morning and again in the afternoon. Soon goes and costs next to nothing.
• They also go for suet, grated cheese, etc. Not too pricey. I've also made my own "fat balls" in the past, after learning to make them when I was in the Brownies (about a million years ago)!! Here's a link to the nearest recipe/method I use: https://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/makeand.../birdcake.aspx
  I love feeding the birds in the Winter. My dog likes it too, as the feeding birds lure her 'nemesis', Peaches the cat, towards our little garden - where she can shout rude things at him from the safety of behind our French windows!
  I tend to stop feeding in the Spring, so that the fledeglings don't become dependent on the feeders and learn to find food for themselves - or so that they don't choke on larger nuts before their gullets are fully-developed.
  But I do enjoy feeding the birds - it's a (relatively) inexpensive way to make a difference and feel good about yourself.
• Do they eat courgettes , have millions
• We've just installed one of those see through plastic feeders (flat backed) on a trellis near the window. The birds are loving it and ignoring the hanging feeder they used previously. We reckon that they feel more secure as it's stable and can scan the whole area while feeding. One reason to look forward to winter, their antics can keep me amused for ages!
• OOh that makes me look like I swore very badly! I just said bu**rs , didn't realise that was so naughty
• You can order seed in bulk online if its too expensive elsewhere. Poundstretcher also do bird seed. I feed my local crows and seagulls, also starlings, blackbirds, pigeons. Seagulls will eat bread, pasta, noodles. I got a massive box of noodles from approved foods and thats been keeping them going nicely for a while.
  I feed birds all year round, not just in the winter.
• I was very excited to see 13 sparrows (including a few juveniles) in our hedge yesterday. There were about 6 sparrows in our garden in the winter, so they are doing well raising their young. It was great to see and we had about 8 on the feeders at once.
• Here the starlings come back to the same nest every year then the swifts take over same nest and then the sparrows use it, presumably for the winter. My neighbour often hears them moving the furniture.
  And for several years we had house martins making their mud pies in the eves.
• I had 2 goldcrests as regular visitors last winter, had never seen one before. I'm hoping they will be back this coming winter.
  I find Wilkinsons to be the cheapest where I am. Just bought a bag of Pets at Home brand and they don't like it as much.
  I saw a late sparrow fledgling being fed in the garden today.
  Earlier this year I was lucky enough to watch a spotted woodpecker sticking its head out of the tree and being fed by its parents. I had to go back every day to have a look. Beautiful.
• We get the occasional great spotted woodpecker on our bird feeder, hacking away at the fat balls, they are a really beautiful bird. We regularly get sparrows, starlings, robins, great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits and chaffinches, also ground feeding birds such as blackbirds, mistle thrushes, ring necked doves and wood pigeons. Only last
  night we were stood in the pitch dark of our back garden listening to owls twit-towooing, didn't see them though.
  I have to say the most exciting bird to visit our garden was a sparrowhawk last winter, it sat on our back fence for about 20 mins, none of us dare move to get the camera in case it flew off.