We will have a flourish of sunflowers from under the feeders, weather allowing . When I measured them yesterday they stand 2" already. If you don't want them there, leave them grow a while then hoe them up - anyone with a rabbit or caged bird close to you?
Maybe the tray was too shiny? Could the birds not grip properly or did it look as if there were birds already present? Whatever, I would be back off to the shop for a refund ;-).
Why would birds want to eat food off a tray, after all it might well get wet and go 'off' ………..
Thanks CLKD - I'm not bothered about the mess - after all it just falls on a flower bed, it just seems a waste and they are germinating (or rotting) too quickly for the ground feeding birds to eat them! yes the tray is too shiny!
I use the Droll Yankee feeders with the circular clear plastic tray underneath. These seem to work quite well. You can buy small or large trays depending on what you want. I have a small one under the sunflower hearts feeder because the doves tend to perch on the large trays and eat the hearts really quickly and also scare the small birds off. I have the larger ones under the black sunflower hearts/seed mix feeders. I have to fill all of my feeders twice a day. The mess underneath them even with saucers is really annoying. They don't like anything shiny Hurdity so I'd complain to the RSPB about this product!
Taz x
Thanks Taz - yes I wondered as I put it out, because one uses CDs to scare birds! I will take it back to Pets at Home next week and will look into the Droll Yankee ones.
Lidl are selling a whole lot of bird-feeding stuff cheaply at the moment and couldn't resist buying a little hanging wooden bird table for a fiver a couple of days ago - not sure where to put it though as our bird table tha husband built does the job really well - with 4 feeders hanging off each corner!
Haven't seen hedgehogs round here for years . They used to come around our cottage and into the outside loo (now closed in to make a shower room) where we used to feed them
Hurdity x