Setting Up Bird Feeders

Setting up a bird feeding station can attract a variety of winged ones into your garden...both hunters and hunted.

I get kestrels, sparrowhawks and buzzards over my garden.  I've watched a sparrowhawk land on a water but and then walk into the hedge there to go looking for birds, as well as dive bomb various birds big and small.

It's essential to position your feeding station as far from your house as possible,  just in case rats or mice visit your garden.  If you have cats and other animals visiting your garden, they will hunt any rodents visiting your garden.  Birds can be very wasteful when eating, they

throw food to the ground.  Luckily some species of birds, such as Dunnocks, Magpies and Jays, can't use the feeders, so they feed off the ground.

Keeping the food dry is essential.  I don't want the rain creating mould within the different feeders, so I cover the station with a transparent tarpaulin.  This provides protection for birds using the feeders from the hunters, keeps the food dry and let's light in for the CCTV cameras.

I find that having a variety of foods encourages different species...but that then seems to differ from garden to garden.  I use the following:

A combination of Coconut halves, Suet, Sunflower seeds, generic Bird Seed, Niger seed, Peanuts and Mealworm in separate feeders will attract Long Tailed Tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits, Black Caps, Bullfinches, Goldfinches, Dunnock, Robins and House Sparrows.  Occasionally,  I see a Woodpecker, Chaffinch and Nuthatches. 

I also put a mixture of generic Bird seed and Mealworm in a tray, all the above species will go there, as well as Wood Pigeons,  Collared Doves, Blackbirds, Magpies, Jay's, Song Thrushes, Starlings and Squirrels.  The other night, Bertie the Badger tried to climb up towards a feeder.

Fat balls should be used sparingly as they can develop mould very quickly.  Monitor what happens around them and see how you go.

I also have a natural habitat around the various ponds with healthy insect populations and have noticed that Sedge Warblers, Wrens and Goldcrests will only feed there, while Rowan Tree and various bushes provide berries for Blackbirds, as well as Redwings and Fieldfare which migrate over from Scandinavia. 

Do not leave any seed tubs open inside your house as they may have Weevil larvae in them.  If you buy various foods, ensure you have a sealable, transparent plastic tub and store the food somewhere dry.

I hope you see some wonderful bird life in your garden.  

Villayat 'Wolf' Sunkmanitu