Bird Table News

In winter birds use a lot of energy searching for food as  natural bird food is scarce.  Putting food out does help birds survive.

Putting any left over Christmas food out is a good idea. 

Here is a list of food you can feed to birds

YOU CAN FEED

• Mild Cheese – grated or just crumbled and broken
• The fat from the cooking can be used. I soak bread in water and then soak this bread in the melted fat before putting it out for birds.  The fat can also be used to mix with bird food.  This way there is double energy – bird food and fat in one meal. 
• Any left over cakes and buns
• Chopped up apples.
• Dried food that has been soaked. 
• Left over roast potatoes. 
• Christmas Cake and Christmas pudding.  These are a really good food for birds. 
• Unsalted nuts – and we have a lot of those at Christmas

Here is a list of food you should not feed to birds

YOU SHOULD NOT FEED

• Stuffing
• Chocolate
• Cooked vegetables
• crisps
• salted nuts
• cooked meat

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First thing in a morning birds are hungry
After surviving a cold night birds need energy to keep them going through the day. For this reason putting bird food out first thing in a morning is probably the best time

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I am still using Guardman’s No Mess Seed mix every day.

It is a very useful bird food.  I put it in a hanging bird feeder, on a bird table and use it as a ground food

Click the blue link below which will take you to  the article about why I use this bird food

ARTICLE ABOUT GUARDMAN’S NO MESS SEED MIX

Does anyone have a favourite bird food that they use?

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Chris Packham gives such good advice.  He sums up why it’s important to keep on putting bird food out through the year.  He supports Garden Bird Supplies and this is what he says -
 

At this time of year keeping your feeders full with a constant supply of good quality food is really important. In the winter birds try to conserve as much energy as possible to keep themselves warm at night and to help them find their next meal. Once they find a constant supply of food they’ll stay nearby ensuring the energy they gain from their food is greater than the energy they spent looking for it.

There’s no better way of knowing you’re doing your bit to help the birds survive the coldest months of the year than when regular visitors have appeared to ‘set up camp’ in your garden. If there’s a constant supply of food, why go anywhere else?

Remember, a trip to an empty feeder is a waste of valuable energy – your garden birds are relying on you to keep your feeders full during the winter. Stock up and keep them visiting!

Chris Packham

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I so wish I could sum things up as well.  Lets just Feed the Birds!

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Blackbirds, thrushes, robins and wagtails are amongst the birds that DO NOT have a beak that is good for cracking seeds.  Because of their beaks these birds are called SOFTBILLS 

Garden Bird Supplies have a very good Soft Bill Mix which is a blend of wheat, barley, oats and maize together with sultanas

Garden Bird Supplies soft bill mix is also good because -

1. It gives you great bird feeding results with no waste

2. It is a special mix which has good quality bird food for soft bill birds who have difficulty eating most seeds and grain.

3. Gives softbill birds their own food source  in winter 

4. It is pre treated to make it easy for these birds to eat

5.The softbill mix is a boost and a help to these birds in Spring when they are busy laying eggs and rearing their young.

6. Birds such as blackbirds and thrushes will definitely eat this softbill birdfood.  Because of the shape of their beaks they have difficulty with the tough outer skin of most seeds and grain that we feed other birds so this is a treat for them.

7. This softbill mix can be fed all year round.

8. You can enjoy watching the results of feeding these ground feeding birds. I know I do.

9.  Quite often the more traditional garden bird gets left behind when it comes to feeding.  This mix caters specifically for our ground feeding birds.  Sultanas are amongst the bird mixture and these are popular with our soft-fruit loving birds.

10.  It can be put on the bird table or put on a ground feeder.

Garden Bird Supplies

BUY NOW

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Take a look – Bird Food Delivered to your Door! – Click the link below -

http://www.gardenbird.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-GBS-Site/default/Search-Show?q=softbill+bird+food

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A favourite bird food in my garden at the moment is Nature’s Feast High Energy Supreme Bird Food.

I certainly see a lot of birds round this bird food when I put it out on the different tables and feeders.

It ticks all the boxes and feeds many birds –  

• Blackbird
• Song Thrushes
• Robins
• Great Tits
• Blue Tits
• Coal Tits
• Chaffinch
• Greenfinch
• Gold finch
• Woodpecker
• Dunnock
• Collared Dove
• Starling
• Tree Sparrow
• House Sparrow

I think I’ve seen all of those birds  except the woodpecker, greenfinch and goldfinch – but there is time yet.

It also attracts siskins, finches, larks and buntings.

It is a bit more expensive than some of the bags of bird food I have bought, but it is worth it because I know when I put this bird food out it will feed a lot of birds.

I like the fact that Blackbirds and Thrushes will eat this bird food.

This Nature’s Feast High Energy Supreme Bird Food can be put on

Bird Tables

Ground Feeders

Tube Feeders

Nature’s Feast High Energy Supreme is, of course, a high energy food. 

• It is rich in sunflower hearts.
• Has a husk free formulation
• Attracts many species
• Contains fruit and nut suet pellet
• Has added vitamins and minerals.

I’ve just been sitting enjoying watching the birds from my kitchen window (it’s a very easy way of bird watching).  What colour and life they bring to my little garden corner.

I purchased my 12.75  kg bag of Nature’s Feast Wild Bird Care High Energy Food from a local Garden Centre and it cost me £19.49.  The sell by date is 12 August 2010.  I think it will all have gone by then!

I  live in the countryside so there are many birds about and, because of it,  I do seem to get a general flock of lots of different varieties at my feeders.  I  have more than one feeder, but it is just as good to have ONE feeder only and put a bit of bird food out.  Every little helps.

Another way of helping birds is to plant a bush / hedge that is bird friendly and will provide shelter, berries as food, and a nesting site – for years to come.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NATURE’S FEAST BIRD FOOD   – CLICK HERE

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I have just been buying some bird food in bulk. I bought some  GARDMANS NO MESS SEED MIX

It is 12.75 kg (28 lbs).

At the moment I’m putting it into one bird feeder, one bird table and two ground feeders .

It is BSA Approved

It is a very useful birdseed because it -

• Can be used on the ground
• Can be used on bird tables
• Can be used in seed feeders
• It is a NO GROW SEED MIX – so nothing will sprout and grow.

Among the birds it attracts are -

• Greenfinches
• chaffinches
• nuthatches,
• blue tits,
• siskins
• dunnocks
• blackbirds,
• doves,
• buntings
• song thrushes
• and sparrows

I’m getting a frenzy of birds feeding at the ground feeders near my kitchen window and also at the bird table.  I get a number of blackbirds, thrushes, loads of sparrows, doves, blue tits and others that flit on and off the bird table.  They really do bring the garden to life and amuse me as I watch their antics.  They have claimed an old fruit bush as their outdoor cafe and I put a lot of the bird food around that area.

 The 28lb bag cost me £15.49 so it should last a long time.  I will keep track of how long this bag of bird seed lasts.

This bag of bird food contains a blend of seeds that is attractive and nutritious to wild birds.  Also it will not generate any messy waste as all the uneatable seed husk has been taken away.

As I live 6 miles from a shop I find buying in bulk is useful, but I have to remember to budget for it! 

I have some dustbins in the back porch where I store the bird food – very useful on a darkm cold morning to have the birdfood in the porch instead of outside in an old shed.

If you have any special bird food you use, or any containers you use for storing bird food please let me know.

To find out more about bird feeding – Click on the image below to find out more or to buy the book.

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Different bird seed mixtures have been formulated for feeders and for table / ground feeding.

Good quality mixes contain flaked maize, sunflower seeds and peanut granules.

It is better not to buy mixes that have -

• split peas
• beans
• dried rice
• lentils

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Bird food need not be bought as a mix – sometimes it is useful to buy individual bird food -

Small seeds such as millet attract

• house sparrows
• dunnocks
• finches
• reed buntings
• collared doves

Black sunflower seeds are a really good all year round food for birds

Nyjer seeds are small and black and have a high oil content.  They do need a special type of  feeder or can be covered in melted fat and put on the bird table (the melted fat binds the nyjer seed together and stops it blowing away)

Peanuts are a good bird food

• Many types of Tits
• greenfinches
• house sparrows
• nuthatches
• siskins

Crushed or grated nuts attract all the above birds and also

• robins
• dunnocks
• wrens

Nuthatches and coal tits hoard peanuts.  They remember where they are stored and go back to them when food is scarce

Wheat and barley grains in seed mixes are only really suitable for pigeons, doves and pheasants.

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 Millet is a small white seed about the size of a pin head

Millet Bird Food

When one type of seed is bought on it’s own it is called either straight seed or single seed.

• Millet is a good single seed to use 
• Millet has a very good  food to energy ratio .  This means when a bird eats millet it soon changes this food into energy.  This is important, especially in winter.
• Millet is a good  source of vitamin B – this is important during the breeding season
• Millet is full of protein and iron
• Millet is cased in a  shell so protects the seed from moisture

Millet is a good bird food for many birds. Sparrows seem to especially like it.

I fill a PK Feeder up with millet.  There are always sparrows feeding from the feeder.   This seems to go on all day.  The amount of millet they eat is astronomical!

PK Bird Feeder

The PK Feeder and millet go together like a horse and carriage!  It is possible to put other food in the PK Feeder, but I never have.

CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE PK FEEDER

I also put millet in the covered ground feeder and on the bird table if it is not windy.  As millet is so small and light it easily blows off bird tables.

In winter sometimes melt some lard and pour it over the millet and put it inside the ground feeder or on the bird table.  It does not turn it into a fatball, but the fat stops the millet blowing off the birdtable and gives birds the extra fat boost they need.  Many birds seem to love this.

So if you want to help the sparrows  and other birds try feeding millet.  You needn’t buy the PK Feeder. 

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Both the tree sparrow and the house sparrow have been given the Red Status by the RSPB, which means they are in decline.  Red status means

• ·  Globally threatened
• ·   Rapid (> or =50%) decline in UK breeding population over last 25 years
• ·  Rapid (> or =50%) contraction of UK breeding range over last 25 years   

Having found a bird food and a bird feeder that attracts a small flock of sparrows I feel I should keep the feeder topped up all the time.

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CLICK THIS LINE FOR MILLET FOR SALE FROM HAITHS

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW FOR A FULL VIEW OF HAITHS BIRD FOOD

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 CLICK THIS LINE FOR MILLET FOR SALE FROM GARDEN BIRD SUPPLIES

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW FOR A FULL VIEW OF GARDEN BIRD SUPPLIES BIRD FOOD

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TREE SPARROW -

Tree Sparrow

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HOUSE SPARROW

Here is an article that other people have read  -

HOUSE SPARROW FACT SHEET
 

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Which bird food do you mostly use to attract birds.

Don’t for get you don’t automatically need a garden.  See my BALCONY BIRDING  CATEGORY  .  Do you find ways to feed birds without having a garden?

Have a good day

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I am lucky that I am getting a lot of blackbirds and thrushes in my garden at the moment.

I’m putting some softbill bird mix near the small bush in the garden and on the  bird tables.  This attracts a flurry of blackbirds and thrushes hopping inside and around the bush (sorry I can’t get a photo that is good enough to put on here)

Softbill Birds are birds that have difficulty with the tough outer skins of most bird seeds.  Soft bill bird food mix is a blend of bird food which makes it easy for softbill birds to eat.

I also put out grated cheese and cut up apples.

Some softbill birds are

Blackbirds,  Thrushes,  Robins, Wagtails

Blackbird in my garden

An early bird looking for an early worm

Robin in Wointer

Softbill mix can -

•  be fed all year round. 
• be fed on the ground
• be fed a birdtable.

 SOFTBILL BIRD FOOD FOR SALE

So please remember the blackbirds and the thrushes and other softbill birds when you put your bird food out

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