Garden Birds

[Slothette]

Hello everyone

I'm just wondering if anyone feeds the birds in their garden? I've got a couple of bird tables and some hanging feeders with nuts and seeds.

When I was housebound (agoraphobia) I found that making myself go outside and fill my bird feeders up made me face up to going outside. I found going into the garden like this a great way to start and it was good for getting my confidence back.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has a similar experience or finds bird watching a good way to relax and forget about anxiety for a while?

Lex xx

[Bill]

I'm always feeding the birds. I love watching them. Very relaxing and a good hobby. We have a family of sparrows who visit the feeders. It's like having a wild aviary. We gets loads in the garden. One favourite is the wood pigeon. I hung half a coconut from a branch. He tilts himself upside down to reach in. I've no idea how he swallows! We also get less common birds like nuthatches, jays, goldfinches, goldcrests, wrens, coal tits and even a rook etc. I get a variety of sunflowers, bird seed, nuts etc. to attract as many types of bird as possible. It's great fun watching them.

[magpie girl]

i keep all the parrot food my birds waste into feeders and make fat balls for the wild birds.We have a wild pair of collar doves who visit everyday to see what goodies i have put out

[Slothette]

Hi Bill

It's good to know that other people here are feeding our feathered friends. I love watching them feeding but they tend to eat me out of house and home..lol. There's a cheeky little robin whos my fav at the moment and I also get sparrows, greenfinches and goldfinches. I'm very envious of your goldcrests. How fantastic! What do they like to eat?...I get so carried away watching mine that quite a few mornings I've burnt my breakfast!


Hi Magpiegirl

I make my own fat balls too. I throw in nuts and sunflower seeds and even boiled rice. The birds seem to like it especially the starlings who demolish it in five seconds flat!....What other birds do you get apart from the wood pigeons?

[Bill]

I think the goldcrests just like ordinary bird seed as I've only ever seen them on the seed I give to the family of sparrows. Each type of bird seems to have a different personality. I call the jackdaws the hooligans because they always make a row! The wood pigeons clumsy because they always sit on the edges of containers and break things! The sparrows the not so clever ones as they take ages to figure out where the food is! The bluetits the intelligent ones! The jays the quiet lonely reserved ones! The collared doves romantic because they always sit in pairs and are happy feeding together.

We also get mice, hedgehogs and even frogs and toads when we've no pond. I once found a toad in the garden and was worried the cat would catch it so I took it to a house where they had a sign saying "toads pad" presuming they had a garden pond. The wife came to the door and told me "toad" was her nickname for her hubby! Poor fella!

I've seen herons and a few miles away is a heronry. There are also kingfishers not from us and I've sat watching them.

One other favourite sight was from the bedroom window one summer. I looked down and saw something hovering with a loud hum. I rushed downstairs to discover it was a large hummingbird Moth! They seem to be getting more common due to hotter summers but that was a while ago when we had a hot summer!

We have a window at the back of the garage and it's covered in ivy. One summer I noticed blackbirds had made their nest and we watched them grow until they fledged and saw them being fed by the parents around the garden. We also had a robins nest one year but I was devastated when I found the baby robin on the lawn after the cat caught him. Won't say what I thought! Around the corner they had a bird box and bluetits raised their young in it. When I took the dog out I saw them all in the nearby trees. Loads of young all twittering away! There are also bats which I love watching in the summer evenings.

Some birds seem to disappear for a while like the jays and nuthatches but I've no idea where they go.

All I can say is keep feeding them frequently with a mixture of sunflowers, seeds and nuts because they all like different things.

[sb001f8994]

Hi Lex,
I feed the birds and enjoy watching them. We have some collered doves and a pair of very naughty wood pigeons that keep canoodling on the gazebo! The robins are so cute and the magpies seem to take great delight in annoying our dog. My daughter is frightened of a heron the visits now and again, it's huge! We also had some kind of bird of prey a couple of years ago, it was greyish coloured with a hook beak, it sat on the fence and unnerved us by staring us out!
My mum used to tell us when we were little that the birds were santas ears and would sit and listen if we were good and go back and report to him. I told this to my kids and now the granchildren know of 'santas birdies' sitting on the fence listening!
Take care,
Carol x

[Slothette]

Hi Bill

It's lovely to hear about the birds in your garden. Do you live in the countryside? Hope you dont mind me asking.

I live in the heart of the city and it never ceases to amaze me the variety of birds and wildlife I get in my garden. I think it may be due to the fact that I live near a canal. I've heard them described before as living waterways. I've had a huge flock of goldfinches today. They are so bossy when they come to feed and like to push the sparrows off the feeders.

The longtailed tits came today too with a gang of blue tits. I love the way the blue tits take a seed and fly to the top of the tree to eat it out of the way of the goldfinch rabble!

This spring just gone, I decided to put a nesting box in the tree. I didnt have any luck though. Maybe next spring some birds might move in.

I watch alot of nature programs on the tv and I remember hearing Bill Oddie say how therapeutic watching wildlife is. I try to get out to as many places as I can to birdwatch but because of my aggoraphobia I hae to wait til someone can come with me. I cant wait for the day that I can take off on my own.....onwards and upwards as thet say!

Hi Carol.....the bird of prey you described could have been a sparrowhawk. At the weekend I noticed a pile of feathers under the tree in the garden. When I went outside to see, I realised that a sparrowhawk must have taken one of the smaller birds for its dinner!....Glad I didnt see it happen though!......I love the story about santas ears. I will have to remember it and tell my nieces!!

[Bill]

You can ask me anything you like!

We live on the edge of town with woods and fields just around the corner. We're very lucky I know.

I let the dog out this evening and something brown moved in front of him in the wet. I thought at first the wind had blown a brown leaf but when he sniffed at it I realised it was a frog or toad. It was a very smooth light brown colour so I think it was a frog but I'm not sure about the colour!

One evening last summer I was in the middle of the garden when a flock of long tailed tits arrived with other blue, coal and great tits. They went into the trees all chirping away and I felt surrounded by them. It was lovely.

My father put a nest box on the side of the house just as a nearby neighbour has. Both of them had blue tit families.

In the forest nearby you can also see bat boxes. They have grooves at the base where the bats can crawl up. I love watching bats.

We also get lots of badgers and foxes around here. More than once I've seen a family of foxes with cubs crossing roads.

We were staying on a farm once where they had a badger sett. Standing nearby in the dusk, they came out, stopped and stared just a few feet away before walking up to plum trees and then you could hear them munching them!

Another time I was walking through woods and a tawny owl flew straight across me and later I suddenly realised there was an adder curled up in front of me. They're a danger around here, especially to the dog who actually stepped right over one once! Nowadays because of his age, he tends to step on your feet rather than around them. Sure he does it deliberately! lol

I'd go with you to watch the birds! I love watching them. I was really sad when Bill Oddie left Autumnwatch. I hear he's feeling much better now and working on other projects but I still miss him! I loved his sense of humour!

The weather's so wet and it gets dark so early I've not really been able to put much out at mo for them but they'll be back!

No swan....but still good! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmfRL...om=PL&index=30

[Slothette]

Hi Bill

I thought maybe you lived near a woods to have such a nice variety of birds coming to your garden. I thought maybe there was a river or lake too not too far away as where there is water, there's usually alot of birds!

I hope your dog didnt get too much of a fright when he/she bumped into a frog! I'd love to have them in my garden so maybe I should get round to putting a pond in.

I've had the odd hedgehog coming to eat left over cat food. One year I had to take a baby one to an animal rescue centre. The poor thing was walking round in tiny circles. Apparently he had come out of hibernation too early and was dehydrated.

I love bats too. I stayed in the Lake District a few years ago and spent many a night just watching them darting and swooping for insects.

Today I went shopping and bought some peanuts for one of my feeders. I was a bit anxious before hand as I've panicked at this shopping centre before but when I got there I was ok. When I got back and filled the feeder up the birds had to hang on for dear life because of the wind!

I've just finished watching Autumnwatch and I have to say, I miss Bill Oddie too. Hopefully he'll be back on tv soon.

Thanks for the link. I really enjoyed listening to the song and watching the sparrow.......you can come bird watching with me anytime!!

Lex xxx

[kazzie]

Hi

I have a nut feeder and love to watch the birds!!!!

I also have a birdbath and we often joke they are lining up with their little towels lol

Great fun

Luv Kaz x x x