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[Margarett]

Hi everyone!
I put out a couple of old apples yesterday, and a fieldfare has been eating them. We don't often see them round here(far west Midlands). The resident blackbird keeps trying to chase him off. Hubby says the blackbird probably says"B****y foreigners coming over here eating our apples"!!
Margaret

[Sleepless in London]

I put the usual nuts, fruit and scraps out for the birds, but does anyone know if you can put cat/dog food down for the meat eating birds?  Would it be safe, or just attract lots of cats (we have loads and loads and loads of cats around here). Don't want to keep live stuff.  I feel sorry for the blackbird we have staying in our apple tree. 

Sleepless

[CLKD]

I put down cat food when it is very cold.  The more meaty chunky sort less water/jelly which goes to waste.

We have a redwing here this morning and a yellow hammer.  I have refilled the water bowls 4 times so far.  Stamped on the fat balls to loosen them and have put plenty of mixed grain on the floor for the pigeons and blackbird.

The dried meal worms are OK but as they have no moisture shouldn't be fed in my opinion when the birds have young in the nest.  I don't mind the wrigglies now, espeically as occasionally they will disappear up the sleeve of a jumper or jacket  ....... if you are squemish then tip them into a pyrex bowl then onto the ground.  We have a special meal worm feeder that the starlings can't get into - the wren, wagtails, tits and robins are able to though.

[residualheat]

The live meal worms really aren't unpleasant to handle, dando. They're quite dry and not at all icky. If you do get some, then you can make them juicier by feeding them slices of raw potato - they love it and the potato will be covered with meal worms in a short time.

The other thing I like about meal worms is the way that the box they come in rustles. Good wind up for the postie when they deliver - get them to put their ear against the box and listen 

[susieseaside]

I also love to watch the birds from my kitchen window (I'm in a 1st floor flat). I laughed at my male black rabbit this morning chasing the wood pigeons away - he'll tolerate the smaller birds ok though. One of my favourite treats when I'm not at work is being out in the garden in the early morning with my rabbits and the birds. It's so peaceful and soothing.
The rabbits are shut in a large shed and 20ft run at night to keep them safe from foxes, so when I let them out in the snow in the garden in the morning they get very excited and run & jump about even though they're relatively elderly at 8 years old!  I like the fact that they co-exist happily with the birds (well mostly!)
I've got a garden arch which I hang feeders on and also put scraps of food out on the rabbit hutch for the blackbirds.
I don't get anything exotic or unusual in the garden - mostly noisy sparrows, blackbirds and a robin. I did once have a magical songthrush in the summer for a few days. It still amazes me how the birds survive the winter.

[dando]

Hmmm, maybe I need to get some live mealworms then and I like the sound of the mealworm feeder. I don't think I've ever seen one of those so where do you get them from?  A pet shop or DIY or something?  We are really snowed in here in Reading but am about to go out and clear the snow off the top of the wall and put some seed and bread crumbs down and a bowl of water.  Its still snowing tho.  Not a sign of a bird this morning and I do feel so sorry for them.

[Taz2]

Did you get my pm Dando? x

[CLKD]

the meal worm box freaks out our postie   - don't expect this weeks' delivery will arrive so am eeking them out between the pied wagtail and the robin both back and front gardens.  I often leave the tub in the lounge and it's a bit weird when they get warmed up and rustle in the paper!

I think we bought the special feeder from CJ Wildbirds, we spoke to the designer at Bird Fair in August, it is quite expensive but it does stop the starlings gobbling up the meal worms.  

[Taz2]

We have been feeding the birds as we always do but have put out more food and more often. We were busy watching the blackbirds hopping around in the snow this afternoon when we discovered we were also feeding a local Sparrowhawk. She/he came out of nowhere and made off with one. It is a bit upsetting but I bet it was just as hungry as the smaller birds.

Taz x

[CLKD]

I haven't seen our sparrowhawk for weeks.  It's very quiet out there, all the birds disappeared around 3.45 p.m.

[juju]

Funny Taz,sparrowhawk shot through our garden last saturday as hubby was watching thru the kitchen window.Didnt get anything but every bird disappeared for ages.Couldnt get down to Bournemouth when I finished work yesterday hoping to get later on,so daughter couldnt go into work,her school is still open in Verwood.She couldnt find anyone to look after her little daughter.Birds are happy as they had almost a loaf I got reduced this morning 

[Corky]

Someone said the birds need to rinse their feathers, so I put out a bowl of water this morning. I also put some vegetarian suet pieces on the ground I had cleared. I get so impatient though since, as someone else said, it takes them ages to find the stuff. I find this odd because in the summer, no sooner do I start up the lawn mower than my little robin appears and waits on the fence for the all clear to scout for whatever the cut grass reveals for lunch.

Anyway, I lost patience and went shopping. When I came back I noticed the chopped up pistachios still in tact, but some of the suet had gone. When I inspected the bowl of water there was evidence of activity (droppings around the edge.) so I was really pleased.

I have bought a big tin of Chappie for the foxes; I feel so sorry for them looking for food in this weather.

Corky

[residualheat]

They do need to wash the dust off their feathers, Corky, and need water for drinking. The bird bath was frozen solid this morning, right to the bottom. I call it a 'bird bath' but it's just a big plastic plant pot saucer - it does the trick, though.

Read that dog food is popular with the birds too, so will try them on it.

I've noticed that there have been very few small birds about, though we're getting plenty of jackdaws, pigeons and blackbirds visiting. A friend told me that small birds will retreat to the hedgerows when it gets really cold, so I hope they're okay. I worry about them.

[Taz2]

Hi Res - I think it depends on what food you are offering as to which small birds you get. I have sparrows, blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, Goldfinches, Chaffinches (sadly very few Greenfinches this year) robins, a blackcap, wagtails (pied and grey) wrens, dunnocks, starlings, blackbirds, woodpigeons, collared doves, sparrowhawk, magpies and jackdaws. Phew! I feed a good seed mix in two large feeders which need restocking up to three times a day, sunflower hearts in a smaller feeder which is only accessible to the smaller birds because the doves are so greedy, Niger seed in a special niger feeder which the goldfinches love and the siskins do too - though they have not arrived yet and there is talk of a decimation in their numbers but nobody is quite sure why. I also feed a breakfast (plus lunch and tea in this cold weather) of bread/cake crumbs, crumbled digestive biscuits, grated cheese, shredded suet, sultanas mixed with a Robin and Blackbird mix (bought from Jacobi Jayne). The breakfast is put onto the birdtable and also scattered on the ground for the ground-feeding birds. Some birds only like to eat on the ground but others, like the starlings, will eat anywhere. Oh yes I also feed peanuts in a feeder and any scraps from the table go onto the birdtable. I don't feed any live mealworms like CLKD does though - haven't got round to that yet!

Taz x

[CLKD]

Don't start  it can get expensive.  Both robin and pied wagtail sit on our lounge windowsill until I put some out; the robin in the back garden sings at me through the kitchen window ...........  if your birds are doing OK  however, I love it when they ask for breakfast