What birds (are you/have you been) watching? What birds have been watching you?

[Hornspieler]

We have just acquired a large blackbird (looks like he's been in a fight) who perches on our VHF ariel and disturbs our slumbers at about 0430 every morning.

My wife calls him "An old Shornbird" but I think "Harry's own Birdwhistle" is more appropriate.
Any other suggestions? ("Alban Bird" springs to mind.)

HS

[Anna]

As regards seed feeders generally – do you all hang yours on trees/shrubs or do you have a bird table with hooks or a pole/shepherd’s crook/feeder station? I ask because I fancy getting one of the latter to position where I can more easily see the birds feeding. Reading reviews of various makes on Amazon and on the RSPB site I find a lot have very negative reviews (too lightweight, bending in wind/weight of birds, difficulty in joining poles, etc). Are there any that you would recommend/stay well clear off, do they all need squirrel baffles? Also, anyone tried a feeder station with a patio stand, are they stable enough?

As to recent bird activity here and having read the vulture post, last Sunday I noticed a mistle thrush on the ground with a magpie paying attention to it. I went and checked the thrush was dead, not injured – half of it’s face had been pecked or eaten away, so I left it. Magpie returned, quickly and expertly plucked the top half, decapitated it, flew off with head. It (or another magpie) returned, plucked the rest of the body very quickly, disembowelled it, and had a good Sunday lunch.

[Lento]

Are there any that you would recommend/stay well clear of

Hanging feeders are good to keep larger birds away, though parakeets and feral pigeons may still be a problem, especially if you have feeders with perch rings. Both my hanging feeders are caged because of this. A ground feeding tray in an adjustable sanctuary cage placed near the house can be quite fun, though might be regarded by some as a rodent magnet! My Chapelwood pole has 2 hooks and goes into the lawn: works OK.

[Don Petter]

We have just acquired a large blackbird (looks like he's been in a fight) who perches on our VHF ariel and disturbs our slumbers at about 0430 every morning.
HS

If he perches on your ariel, perhaps he's flown through a tempest?

[Don Petter]

As regards seed feeders generally – do you all hang yours on trees/shrubs or do you have a bird table with hooks or a pole/shepherd’s crook/feeder station? I ask because I fancy getting one of the latter to position where I can more easily see the birds feeding. Reading reviews of various makes on Amazon and on the RSPB site I find a lot have very negative reviews (too lightweight, bending in wind/weight of birds, difficulty in joining poles, etc). Are there any that you would recommend/stay well clear off, do they all need squirrel baffles? Also, anyone tried a feeder station with a patio stand, are they stable enough?

Ours are all right by a window, mostly hung from the top central brick outside the frame. We like to see our visitors close up!

There is sometimes a loud bang if a woodpecker gets frightened off, but we haven't had a broken window yet.

[Richard Tarleton]

That's interesting because I was wondering if a disaster had happened to the pied wagtails, they used to be very common (lovely little birds the way they bob along) and could be seen in great numbers, particularly around our small bus station and the adjoining supermarket car park (which then joins fields and the river) I cannot remember seeing any for at least a couple of years. Ditto starlings.

If anyone wants any sparrers we are overrun with them here, nesting all over the place!

Just catching up with this thread after a week in Suffolk (birding, amongst other things). Pied wags doing OK nationally acc. to new BTO Atlas, present in just about every tetrad in the UK, certainly every Welsh tetrad Anna

How was Benacre, Suffolkcoastal? Didn't make it there this time although I was curious to know how it fared in the December tidal surge. Generally in Suffolk the worst hit areas were the rivers - the Blyth and the Alde, with the tidal surge causing the rivers to overflow. The tidemark on the first floor window of that Southwold pub on the Blyth river was scary. The coastal defences seem to have held up reasonably well.
Happily the Snape Crown is fully recovered and at the top of its game (Adnams of course )

My best bird of the week was a Stone curlew on the edges of Minsmere which I found all by myself - not the one the RSPB point you at

PS I prefer the CJ Wildlife selection of feeders. We have Squirrel Guardian baffles on ours but ultimately no feeder is squirrel-proof for ever - I have to keep adding extra features, like wire and duck tape. The alpha male has been seeing eyeing up the plastic screw at the bottom which holds the thing together - he's been watching me dismantle it for cleaning, obviously.

[amateur51]

I'm pleased to report that I now get three goldfinches visiting the seedmixed with nyger seeds in my standard seed-feeders - they're so colourful and have a very confidential chattering song which amuses me no end

[Anna]

Ours are all right by a window, mostly hung from the top central brick outside the frame. We like to see our visitors close up! There is sometimes a loud bang if a woodpecker gets frightened off, but we haven't had a broken window yet.

I’d be more concerned birds would fly into the window and break their necks, although outside the kitchen window I have two chains suspended that I use for hanging baskets, when I take the baskets down in the Autumn I’ll try some feeders there. A friend who lives about 15 mins walk away has masses of siskins in her garden, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in mine, unless I’ve mistaken it for a greenfinch.

Now, here’s a funny thing about bird feeding stations. I recalled that a couple of years ago a neighbour acquired a bespoke cast-iron one, very elaborate and curvy, more like a garden sculpture. I asked why he didn’t use it anymore and he said because of the ‘flying’ squirrel and his wife won’t let him fit a squirrel baffle because then it would look “industrial” He also said he worried about woodpeckers damaging their tongues on mesh feeders. Any truth in that?

[Richard Tarleton]

Now, here’s a funny thing about bird feeding stations. I recalled that a couple of years ago a neighbour acquired a bespoke cast-iron one, very elaborate and curvy, more like a garden sculpture. I asked why he didn’t use it anymore and he said because of the ‘flying’ squirrel and his wife won’t let him fit a squirrel baffle because then it would look “industrial” He also said he worried about woodpeckers damaging their tongues on mesh feeders. Any truth in that?

Anna, the CJ Wildlife catalogue (and they know about these things) includes a photo of a GS Woodpecker on a mesh peanut feeder. I don't think there's the slightest risk to a woodpecker's bill, or tongue. It's nothing to what they do with their tongues in the wild

Squirrels - yes if they can jump they will. They also get quite cross if frustrated. I once left the shed open, sack of food inside, and saw the squirrel from the kitchen window in the shed about to start on the seed. I chased him out, shut the shed - next, he was climbing all over the shed trying to work out why the doorway he'd just been through was no longer there. He checked the hinges, the latches.....

[Dave2002]

Squirrels - yes if they can jump they will. They also get quite cross if frustrated. I once left the shed open, sack of food inside, and saw the squirrel from the kitchen window in the shed about to start on the seed. I chased him out, shut the shed - next, he was climbing all over the shed trying to work out why the doorway he'd just been through was no longer there. He checked the hinges, the latches.....

I've not put the squirrel baffle further up our pole, so some still get up. I am threatening to spray the food with Squirrel Stop - but haven't done so yet. I'm not sure whether that really is a product which squirrels dislike, but birds accept.

After adjusting the squirrel baffle a few weeks ago, some squirrels were puzzled, and couldn't get up. Then I saw one go quite a long way back on the ground, and take a run at it, and it got up. Determined and quite clever little beasts.

There are some amusing reviews here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardman-A011...quirrel+baffle

Robert Munro's review of this product is also amusing - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Squirre...f+bird+feeders

We have a friend who has a squirrel trap - which bops them off. She puts the bodies over the hedge, and they're gone the next day. We've not got to that stage yet.

[Anna]

Love the second review Dave! Is the answer to fit two baffles - one at the top of the pole to stop them landing (and also would act as umbrella for feeders in bad weather?) and another baffle halfway up the pole? Neighbour says squirrel launches itself from oak tree, onto a whippy sapling which then propels him onto the feeder.

Richard, I'll pass on the info about woodpeckers to my neighbour and also tell him to look at that website (which didn't come up from any of my searches)

[Richard Tarleton]

Baffles useless against resourceful squirrels. These squirrel "Guardian" cages are the only option, having trialled just about everything else with the help of our local squirrel population. There are several variants for different feeders. Even so they're not perfect. On the nut versions, the squirrels learn to push up the cover and raid them from the top. You have to wire the top on. I have one with a taller mesh tube and only fill it 2/3 full - the squirrel realises he can't reach the nuts and gives up. On the seed versions, the squirrels eventually worked the top up and started to destroy the clear plastic tube by chewing the top edge. I've now repaired it with double-sided tape which they don't like.

Anna - http://www.birdfood.co.uk/ctrl/node:...;/bird_feeders the woodpecker pic is in the paper catalogue, it may also be online

[amateur51]

My experience with squirrels is that you never win, they always come back with a whole range of potential solutions and are amazingly inventive and fearless. You learn quite quickly that you are just not in their class

[Dave2002]

Sometimes even those "protected" bird feeders don't work - allegedly - if you believe what you read/see - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bird-cage.html

[Richard Tarleton]

Sometimes even those "protected" bird feeders don't work - allegedly - if you believe what you read/see - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bird-cage.html

This happened to us - immature squirrels (this time of year) are small enough to slip through. It's a matter of millimetres - I discussed the matter with the man at CJ! If the bars are any closer together they become too small for woodpeckers, who can barely get in as it is.

Ams, you're absolutely right.