RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Now the snow has stopped the birds are around again including loads of these: Keith 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Never seen so many blackbirds in one place before. 23 under the feeders - all squabbling. Mistle Thrush among the highlights. I spotted a hen blackbird a couple of days ago looking for food in the snow. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Managed to get one in flight: Keith 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Must be cold and icy - my garden feeder has been attacked this morning for about the first time since last April ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Managed to get one in flight: bird 2.jpg Keith Fieldfare? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian daniels Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Female Chaffinch just can't get the hang of the perch to rest on as she just grabs one bit of sunflower heart and shes off again. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Female Chaffinch just can't get the hang of the perch to rest on as she just grabs one bit of sunflower heart and shes off again. May I suggest that the feeder needs cleaning, sorry, there looks to be no seed getting to the bottom perches. Nice picture though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Chaffies tend to be ground/ table feeders if they have not adapted to perch feeding. That one looks good and healthy; may it stay that way and thrive. Phil 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butler Henderson Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 May I suggest that the feeder needs cleaning, sorry, there looks to be no seed getting to the bottom perches. Nice picture though.Looks like the type of feeder I got rid of the other week; if it was supposed to be able to taken apart to be cleaned it failed completely. I have a tray on the pole the feeder hangs so I empty the contents of any mucky feeder into the tray; that always disappears within a few hours but usually down the gullet of a wood pigeon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 3, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 3, 2018 Fieldfare? Looks like it. They are here for the rose hips which the other birds have more or less ignored although having taken all the pyracantha and hawthorn berries. Keith 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetmorgan Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Just seen my very first Goldcrest in the garden and the kitchen window bird table...but he/she was in and out before I have chance to get the camera. That is the first one I've seen in the garden in the 10 years I've been here. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
choo1choo Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 Nutty Hedge Sparrow sitting on my car door handle looking at his reflection in the bodywork going berserk. Hope he can find a more amenable mate! Still at it but joined by a pair of blue tits knocking six bells out of the garden mirror....must be something in the bird feeder! Our cat thinks it's Christmas again. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 Still at it but joined by a pair of blue tits knocking six bells out of the garden mirror....must be something in the bird feeder! Our cat thinks it's Christmas again. Dunnock males are bonkers anyway and at the moment they wil flap at anything that moves, including their reflections seemingly. Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 May I suggest that the feeder needs cleaning, sorry, there looks to be no seed getting to the bottom perches. Nice picture though. I have found that adding 100% sunflower hearts into a feeder in wet or humid weather produces bad results. The moisture causes the hearts to become sticky and they do not flow down the feeder. My solution is to add ordinary black sunflower seeds at a ratio of about 25%, and the hard shells of the black seeds seem not to allow moisture to have any effect, and there is much less sticking. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted March 5, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 5, 2018 I have found that adding 100% sunflower hearts into a feeder in wet or humid weather produces bad results. The moisture causes the hearts to become sticky and they do not flow down the feeder. My solution is to add ordinary black sunflower seeds at a ratio of about 25%, and the hard shells of the black seeds seem not to allow moisture to have any effect, and there is much less sticking. For some reason our local birds prefer the ones with husk on. In the one with seed mix which includes both, the black ones go first. I have one for just black sunflower seed (as well as peanuts and fat balls) and it has to be filled up more regularly than anything other than mealworms. They are spoilt here, five different feeders but unfortunately they have all to be caged to keep out corvids, woodies, starlings and squirrels so only small birds can get to feed. I have tried them open but the food gets wiped out in no time! Keith 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 6, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) He was as skittish as usual, and this is the best shot I could get, Mrs was more interested in feeding, so I had time to zoom in; sorry about the grubby window. Edited March 6, 2018 by dhjgreen 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted March 12, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 12, 2018 Beautiful birds. Not seen any for a very long time around here.....sadly. Phil Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 12, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 12, 2018 We get Bullfinch quite often. These are rare birds for us, these are a pair BTW 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have found that adding 100% sunflower hearts into a feeder in wet or humid weather produces bad results. The moisture causes the hearts to become sticky and they do not flow down the feeder. My solution is to add ordinary black sunflower seeds at a ratio of about 25%, and the hard shells of the black seeds seem not to allow moisture to have any effect, and there is much less sticking. I am down to just one local stockist of the regular black sunflower seed, sold economically by the 12.5kg sackload. Two fold problem with the 'sunflower hearts': the frequent sticking you report, the local nuthatches which will dig out any number - and chuck - before finally taking one. I am not feeding the flying or ambulant tree rats... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium dhjgreen Posted March 12, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 12, 2018 ...the local nuthatches which will dig out any number - and chuck - before finally taking one... I would gladly accept that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted March 12, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 12, 2018 my sunflower heart started to go down a lot faster than normal so i did a bit of a stake out and and i have a flock of around ten goldfinches coming to the feeders 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve1 Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 Due to the recent weather, the flood in the fields behind us has grown immensely. It seems that news of this has reached the ears of the local waterfowl as now have a huge amount out there, including several mute swans and grey lag geese. Hopefully these pics will give some idea of what I mean. Taken on iPad so not wonderful. I'm trying to give you an impression of it. Thanks steve 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Downendian Posted March 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2018 Well not in my back garden, but currently out fishing at Hunstrete between Bristol and Bath. Heard the first Chiff Chaff of the year, so spring is here! Neil 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Tim Dubya Posted March 18, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 18, 2018 Not a massive charm by any accounts but we had the most amount of Goldies at any one time in the garden yesterday with a total of 9. Finally spotted Mrs Black cap the other day too, on the feeders outside the kitchen window, whilst at the bottom of the garden two males were sharing the apple tree (don't know anything about Blackcap's behaviours but they were quite happy to share each others company and take it in turns to use the feeder). 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jbqfc Posted March 18, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 18, 2018 a new visitor to the garden today a grey wagtail 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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