Hi Trish and everybody,

 my cake is

•  lard,
• ground sunflower
•  and peanuts, also whole ones
• all put together with currants and sultanas,

They go down a treat,

I had 9 long tail tits here today,
Not seen thrushes around, am worried,,mum used to come into workshop in breeding season, but offspring not so keen,,

Keep up the feeding everyone, we will get them through,,

Have 5 or 6 blue tits roosting in a nest box they have used twice to breed in,, dont know if the same family have moved in,,R

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Hi, This is wonderful. 9 longtail tits and blue tits roosting. So you are helping birds survive!

I haven’t seen many thrushes, but the one or two I have seen have looked in good condition. I wonder if there are a lot of berries on the hedges. Also thrushes are shy birds and if a lot of more aggressive birds are feeding they may not get as much of a look in.

That is an interesting recipe. You must go to a lot of trouble to ground the sunflower and peanuts. I sometimes just melt the lard and pour it over some bird food. It gives it a fat coating.

Great you got in touch.
Glad to hear from other bird feeding people

Well said Richard  -   Keep up the feeding everyone, we will get them through

Trisha

The snow came down thick and fast so I covered  the ground bird feeder with anything I could find.  It worked!  The ground feeder was sheltered from the storm and i could put the daily bird feed inside.  Even though the snow was deep all around – at one point it nearly came to the top of my wellington boots – this igloo of a bird feeder was free from the worst of the snow.

The bird feeders were a hive of activity!  I should have videod them but did not have time!  I’m sure they  were waiting for me as you can see from the two birds sitting in the snow.

SNOW COVERED BIRD FEEDER

Protecting the ground bird feeder from a snowstorm

 This photo may be a bit hard to work out – but it was a success this winter. 

Inside the bush is mainly free from snow.

The canes sticking out make a circle where larger birds cannot get – I put the bird food inside the canes. 

You can hardly see the ground feeder – but it is there under the snow. 

this area under the snow has been a little snow free haven where so many birds have visited and popped in and out of as they eat me out of house and home!  I seemed to be putting scraps and birdfood inside the feeder on and off all day and it was always eaten.

I’m sure some of them know me!  One blackbird watches my every move and once surprised me by sitting on a branch so close to me.

I’m so pleased the snow has gone and I can see the green grass again. 

 Does anyone else do things like that to keep snow off the bird food?

In winter bird’s natural supplies such as insects and seeds run out and many garden birds, especially the small birds do not survive the freezing winter.

This freezing winter weather can be a killer for garden birds

Please click the link below and read ways we can help garden birds.

If you have any knowledge you would like to share please get in touch

http://birdtablenews.com/2010/01/helping-birds-in-winter/

Some birds stay for 16 hours a day in their roost – which could be the nest box that you bought

Here is a link to an article which gives some of the reasons why -

http://birdtablenews.com/2009/10/cleaning-nest-boxes/

I was reminded how important it is to clean nest boxes out when I saw two sparrows trying to get into a nest box that had been used as a wasps nest this summer!

I wish I could have got a photograph  of the sparrows.  They kept poking their beaks in and then flying away.

We left the wasps nest alone during the summer as it was not doing any harm.  It was out of the way and the wasps never came near to the house. 

Please read the article above about cleaning out nest boxes.  It isn’t the nicest job, but it helps birds survive the winter

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• blizzards
• gales
• sub zero temperatures

Lets hope he survives this harsh winter and can sing and enjoy the sun in 2010

We can help.

A Blue Tit spends 85% of a winter’s day looking for food.  So it spends a lot of energy trying to find food. 

If food is available on a bird table, a hanging feeder or on the ground the birds will have more energy to see them through the freezing night.  This applies to many birds not just Blue Tits.

Lack of food can made a bird less alert and so more likely to be caught by predators, or if it does not get enough fat to last through the night it may die

Sometimes winter weather looks beautiful, but it hides the harshness of winter

Nowhere to shelter

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If you would like a place to meet and discuss birds in winter click this link which will take you to my  Bird Table News Forum which I’m able to take part in after a break

http://birdtablenews.com/forums/

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