Garden Bird Appeal

[Sybille Weber]

Reading the news about the adverse winter weather conditions in the papers or watching the news on TV I never read or hear a word about how this weather affects wildlife and our birds in particular. They can hardly find any food in these weather conditions and many of them rely on human assistance if they want to survive the winter, yet, at least over here, I can see hardly anyone feeding the birds. We only have a balcony, and that is packed with birds already. All day is spent preparing new bird feed and clearing the balcony off the snow which is so difficult with all this wind. The trees around are dotted over and over with black spots which are blackbirds and starlings. They all seem to come to our place for food as those who have the space in their gardens just do not feed the birds. Some people may have put up one or the other fatball for titmice in a tree but that doesn't help other species, especially those which used to migrate and are now increasingly staying over here for the winter as winters had become milder. They are not used to these conditions and require help. Various species of birds also require different bird feed which many people just don't seem to know, or they feed the birds just occasionally when it is essential to feed them regularly. Birds can stay without food for 16 hours at the most, less in adverse weather, so if they have come a long way to a feeding place that has not been replenished they have lost a lot of energy for nothing, and this could be fatal.
Apart from that I find that some birds, especially the small ones, are too shy to come so close to humans or feed where all the other bigger birds are crowding the place, so if there was a bird table at the far end of the garden these birds could also be helped.

I think in Britain bird feeding is more widespread than it is over here, but I thought I'd still post this here as it might induce some more of you to support our dear birds.
As to what bird feed is suitable I think this RSPB link might be helpful:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpin...ood/index.aspx

A big thank you to everyone out there feeding our feathered friends in these difficult conditions.

[Linda]

Whole hearted support Sybille...we feed our birds every day with fat balls, seeds, peanuts, and anything fat wise left over from cooking mixed with seeds. We are now buying mixed poultry grain and feeding that so the bigger birds can get something too. One of the consequences of this hard winter will be fewer wildlife as it tries to survive and fails....something we are not really thinking about at this time but will notice come Spring and Sunmmer.
Please everyone feed the birds at least we give them a chance.

[jane jackson]

How do you manage to feed the birds safely with all your cats Linda? We have a small garden and really have nowhere safe to feed them where the cats couldn't get to as well. I do make sure there is water available outside in the hope they could use that without being ther too long as in feeding.

[Liz]

We're fortunate with our two cats as neither seems to be interested in birds - mice are another matter altogether!

Our birds are getting through so much food at the moment, its like paying out to feed another pet! I don't begrudge them though as they give us so much pleasure. I am always amazed at how wonderful they all look through field glasses, so much colour. I was watching a fieldfare this morning which form a distance looked very ordinary but through the glasses - WOW!

[Linda]

We feed the birds over by the stable and in the garden area...with high up feeding points, ie stable roof which the cats cannot get onto and some high hanging feeders...it is a problem at times as some cats wait in the bushes and then run over when one of the birds drop to the ground...but the odds are in birds favour and if we lose some which we absolutely hate...then at least many others are being fed and escaping. All those that are brought into the house are not necessarily dead so they get rescued and released (like the mice...I spend hours rescuing!...little boxes for them all to recover in before being released again)..last night for example at 10pm a blackbird was brought in to the lounge and we rescued that ...unharmed.....
You just have to weigh up losses verus gains...we didnt have any birds here when we came and now we have dozens upon dozens...yes some get killed but many more live.

We have two real hunters and they are currently sleeping so the birds are making the most of it...you should have heard the birdsong this morning.

[adesmith]

Funnily enough we bought some food for the birds this afternoon. We did try and feed them with a hanging feeder last year but we werent terribly successful and this may be down to the presence of Verity who does seem to like hunting. The neighbour has a 'feeding station' and I think I may invest in one of those or a good old fashioned bird table costs about the same. Anyway I put some nuts in the feeder and some fat balls around. I also put some tepid water in a bowl and a small plate of grated cheese, apple and cornflakes on a little plate. Had to put this on the table outside but Verity is in most of the time at the moment so I thought that the birds may have a go. Better than nothing I guess. The lady next door and the lady over the back put lots of food out so they may not bother with ours.

[jane jackson]

We feed the birds over by the stable and in the garden area...with high up feeding points, ie stable roof which the cats cannot get onto and some high hanging feeders...it is a problem at times as some cats wait in the bushes and then run over when one of the birds drop to the ground...but the odds are in birds favour and if we lose some which we absolutely hate...then at least many others are being fed and escaping. All those that are brought into the house are not necessarily dead so they get rescued and released (like the mice...I spend hours rescuing!...little boxes for them all to recover in before being released again)..last night for example at 10pm a blackbird was brought in to the lounge and we rescued that ...unharmed.....
You just have to weigh up losses verus gains...we didnt have any birds here when we came and now we have dozens upon dozens...yes some get killed but many more live.

We have two real hunters and they are currently sleeping so the birds are making the most of it...you should have heard the birdsong this morning.

That's a good point you make there Linda, I hadn't thought about the fact there could be more gains than losses.

[Janet Swan]

It does take a few days for birds to find a new "feeding station" area, so hopefully they will find Adrian's tempting offerings before too long. I've been putting out food and water twice a day, but the water freezes over so quickly. As well as fat balls and nuts, I keep a pot in the kitchen and throw all crumbs from bread and cake, chopped apple cores, leftover cat food and anything else suitable into it, then mash it up a bit with a little water - looks revolting but the birds do love it! Fortunately my cat won't venture outdoors at all this weather, although neighbours' cats come and go, but the birds still manage to feed too.

Janet

[Sybille Weber]

Great to hear what everyone is doing for the birds. It seems bird feeding is generally more widespread in Britain than it is over here. As you say, Adrian, many of your neighbours are also feeding the birds. That's unfortunately not the case over here. Infact there doesn't seem to be anyone here at all in our neighbourhood who puts out bird feed. Some do have bird feeders but they seem to be just decoration, and are always empty. So the birds are coming to us in huge numbers. Unfortunately this also attracts one or the other bird of prey, but this is the same situation as with Linda's cats, and after all these birds have to live on something, too.
Don't want to act as a teacher, and I hope you don't mind me saying this, but there's one little thing I would like to mention just for the sake of the birds. Some of you said you were putting out water. Although this is normally very good, in winter this can be fatal as birds may take a bath in it and their plumage will freeze. So if it's done at all it should be tiny bowls so that they will only get their beaks in. If there's snow there's usually no need to put out water as the birds can eat that, and it will melt in the body.

[adesmith]

I was very excited that the grated cheese that I put out last night was eaten along with the portion that I put out this morning. The apple and cornflakes were untouched but I thought it might be Robins because apparently they like cheese. Anyway I just excitedly asked Rachel to grate me some more cheese for the birds and she pointed out that it might be Verity eating it