Bird Table News

Coal Tit enjoying peanuts.

I enjoy taking photos, but know I’ll never be a really good photographer of birds. It’s really nice when someone sends me a really good photo of a garden bird. Here is a bird photo I was sent the other day. It’s lovely. Just look at the colour and the clarity. There is a note below the photograph about birds in the garden and how the photograph was taken.

Though you may like to see this shot I got of a coal tit about to make off with
a piece of peanut.

The pair kept visiting the feeders so I stood in the kitchen and took about 20 pictures many of which ended up with most of the bird hidden from view. Amongst the pictures was this one which I now use as the wallpaper on my computer desktop.

Visiting birds here are greenfinch, robin, blue tits, coal tits, sparrows, and
starlings. The sparrows are not the least bit bothered by the squabbling
starlings. They just find a gap and dive in. Same really with the tits. If the
starlings are at the fat balls and nut feeder then the smaller birds go onto
the table where the seed feeder is.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your four legged friend. Very best wishes,

Thanks for your condolences on the loss of our dog. I see your garden is a bit like my garden. Lots of birds flitting about and making the most of the food you put out.

I see you are still using the bird feeder that you told me about before. You said it’s really good when it’s windy because you’ve made it static. A very good idea. Good to hear from you and thanks for sending the picture for us to enjoy. Trisha

 When I was feeding the garden birds the dog was always at my side.  I took her for granted.  Feed her and take her for a walk.  Part of the daily routine.  She had to be put down last month as she was in so much pain.

We miss her.  I miss her at my side when I’m outside.  I didn’t realise how often she was with me when I fed the birds. 

In memory of Bonnie here are a few occasions when she as at my side.

I’ve started off in  November last year.  I end with Bonnie being put down.

My dog and me start a new day together in November 2007

I feed the Birds before I walk the dog - January 2008

A walk with a wild robin with my dog nearby   February 2008

After brushing the dog the Birds use the dog’s soft hair to make a nest  National Nest Box Week , February 2008

Birdsong as I take my old dog for a walk   February 2008

Cats kill birds.  Dogs don’t roam alone.  Dog’s don’t kill birds.  

A lovely bird photograph because I took my dog a walk  April 2008

 The dog who usually helps me feed birds - April 2008

  Dog waking up because she is in pain  - April 2008

The end.  Taking my dog to the vets for the last time - 23 April 2008

I’m still busy feeding birds every day.  I don’t want another dog.  Yet I miss Bonnie.

I bought a new bird feeder the other week and am trying it out - hanging it from the branch of a tree.  Bonnie would have loved to sniff near the tree in the long grass - what she was sniffing for I’ll  never know!

It’s a fact that if you want to attract a variety of birds to the garden it’s best to have a variety of feeders.

It is also best to place the feeders in different areas of the garden.

A BIRD TABLE close to the house gives a good view of birds flitting on and off

WINDOW FEEDERS will attract Blue Tits  as they are bold birds.  This would be a lovely way to view such a colourful bird.

HANGING PEANUT FEEDERS which are close to cover should attract Siskins (plus other birds).

LOW GROUND FEEDERS  which are close to shrubs and bushes are loved by Song Thrushes and Blackbirds.  I have one and it’s always in use by some bird or other during the day.

COVERED GROUND FEEDERS  give small birds like the chaffinch, robin, blue tit protection from predators.  The cage also keeps the larger birds off the bird food.

TUBULAR FEEDERS that are under cover will attract Greenfinches. 

Coal Tits also like Tubular feeders.

POLE MOUNTED FEEDERS can be moved around the garden.  This will let you find the most popular ‘bird feeding’ area. 

I have a variety of feeders.  At the moment most of my feeders are under the shade of a tree.  This is because I’m hanging them from the branches.

I’m having to try different feeders to stop the maurauding rooks and ravens getting the bird food. 

Instead of the bird food being out in the open and in ordinary feeders I’m having to put guards round the feeders and string and wire round the bird tables!

It’s a war out there in my garden at the minute.  I have stopped the flock of rooks attacking the feeders.

The smaller birds seem to be getting used to hopping in and out of the mesh, string and wire to get at the food.  So all’s well that ends well — until tomorrow when something will wrong.

We have one or two nest boxes and it’s good to see that they are being used again. don’t know which bird is using this nest box though.

Some small bird has bitten off more than it can manage with this large piece of nest material

Look at this small bird having a rest from nest building

Have been putting a variety of birdfood out as usual.

Here’s some of the bird food I put inside my meshed ground feeder

I have just realised that this month I will have been blogging for one year.

The First Anniversary of Bird Table News  will soon be here.

I will look back to the first post I ever wrote and pressed the PUBLISH button for.  I’ll see how things have changed and what I have seen and who I have got to know.  I look at what I have learnt and advice I have given about bird feeding and bird care.

Strange how, within a few days,  I can go from thinking about to stopping my blog because of technology problems  then realising it will soon be a year since I started. The the First Anniversary of Bird Table News. 

Trisha

I hang three bird feeders from branches. In summer I carry an old jug full of bird seed out to the feeders and fill the feeders outside.

I heard a loud noise and saw a small shadow whizz by my left shoulder.

Looking up I saw a brightly coloured black and yellow bird.

It was a Great Tit. It perched for one monent on a branch just above my head. It then flitted around my head in a circle from branch to branch. It stayed perched on one branch for a minute.

I did not have my camera with me. The law of my garden says that if I have my camera with me nothing happens. If I don’t have my camera with me I see allsorts of things.

This Great Tit, brightly clothed in black and yellow, was so close to me. I stood and watched it.

I picked up my old jug full of seed and poured the seed into the two hanging seed feeders - I filled them to the brim with seed.

I walked away a little and watched the Great Tit as it chirrupped so loudly, landed on the feeder, poked it’s beak inside the feeder port and flew away to a nearby branch.

It’s still nearby now, It’s in the shade flitting from branch to feeder, from feeder to branch. Wonder if it’s got any young yet.

The early morning breeze, the greenery of the hedge and tree, the ice blue sky, the yellow and black of the bird, the song of the bird took me miles away from computers and technological problems. It took me to a world where survival is king and nature rules (with a little help from us birdfeders)

I have just been outside again and seen two Great Tits sat on nearby branches , singing , without a care in the world. Why should they have any cares or problems - I’m providing all the food they need to eat. costing me a fortune!!

A dove sits in the shade of a tree with a long piece of grass in its beak. A Busy day nest making.

Rooks hover nearby. A small flock of sparrows flits about. Further away blackbirds skurry about on the grass near the pond. Chaffinches wait in a queue on a branch waiting for a space on the feeders.

At the moment I’m fed up with computers and technology but outside in the real world a new cycle of life is here. Birds know the seasons. They are not immune from the seasons as we are sat at our computer desks.

A Great Tit.

Information about Great Tits

The Great Tit has a distinctive black stripe on its underside. It has white cheeks which contrast with its all-black head markings. It’s tail it bluey/grey.

The Great Tits - Feeding Great tits. Great tits love peanuts, seeds,

Great tits are not as agile as the other small Tits. They spend a lot of time feeding on or near the ground.

In summer as well as coming to bird feeders Great tits eats insects such as caterpillars and bugs, but also spiders and small snails.

Here is one kind of bird food that Great Tits like.  Why not buy some bird food today and feed the birds.