New Garden Birder Seeks advice

[moogdude]

Hi everyone,
I live half way up a terrace in a city suburb, not far from a public park. I've managed to banish cats from my modest, 20ft x 20ft walled, paved garden. I've planted a variety of shrubs, bushes and plants in the borders that seem to attract a lot of insects in the summer months. The odd neighbourhood cat has been recently banished due largely to a very effective Catwatch ultrasonic deterent. I have recently put out a feeding station with a combination of seed feeders, peanut feeders and table mix as well as a regular fresh water supply. I have also yet to put out mealworms, ground feed and suet cakes.(CJ's of course)

The problem is, although I see birds on the roofs and over the house, I can't say I've seen one in the garden in the last 7 years. Am I being over optimistic or am I just being impatient?

Any advice would be great.

Kind Regards,

Moogdude

[Shamal]

Hi Moogdude,
Don't worry, the birds will come, just be patient. When the weather gets a bit colder, the birds will be on the look out for any food supply and they will stick with you as long as there is regular food. The seed feeders and the table food will probably be the most popular and attract the first birds, though peanuts still do well in some areas.

[optrex]

You should at least start getting sparrows (my favourite) in the setup you have described. Wait at least 4 weeks for something to start happening and make sure there is cover nearby for them.

I have recently setup a single feeder in a holly tree at work. Because of the way its been cut there is a gap in the middle of it. The feeder sits there totally enclosed. For 3 weeks nothing, then in 1 day we had a robin, 2 bluetits and 2 sparrows. A week later and we have so many bluetits we cant count them when they visit and the finches have found it too.

[Birdman]

Just a reminder that everytime you hang out new bird feeders, the birds need time to get accustomed to them, hence a possible short term absense..but once they know where to find food...they will return..I find that around 0800 and 1500hours seems to be the return time in my location..although yes, there's always visitors arriving...Just had 3 goldfinches return, so more niger seed needed now..:D

[storye_book]

[quote=moogdude;743]Hi everyone,
I live half way up a terrace in a city suburb, not far from a public park. I've managed to banish cats from my modest, 20ft x 20ft walled, paved garden. I've planted a variety of shrubs, bushes and plants in the borders that seem to attract a lot of insects in the summer months. The odd neighbourhood cat has been recently banished due largely to a very effective Catwatch ultrasonic deterent. I have recently put out a feeding station with a combination of seed feeders, peanut feeders and table mix as well as a regular fresh water supply. I have also yet to put out mealworms, ground feed and suet cakes.(CJ's of course)

The problem is, although I see birds on the roofs and over the house, I can't say I've seen one in the garden in the last 7 years. Am I being over optimistic or am I just being impatient?

-------------------------------
It happens to us all. I've been birdfeeding for decades, but have just set up (two weeks ago) a new feeding station on the west side of my house - and it's mostly empty. Yet the established feeding station on the south side (15 yards away) is always full up.

The new station has a bird table, plus pole with birdcake feeder, niger and peanuts, and there will soon be a big seedfeeder as well. The resident robin kicked off by using the high bird table as a songpost and attacked all other visiting birds. On the other hand, I glanced out of the window the other day, and a great spotted woodpecker was scoffing the birdcake.

I've got this theory that if you put out feeders and wait long enough you actually MAKE birds. For example, a couple of years ago I put out a niger feeder against all the rules - we had no goldfinches in the area. Every now and then I would replace the niger seed when it went off. But suddenly this year we've got lots of goldfinches, to the extent that I've had to get another niger feeder. So according to my theory I've made goldfinches.

I wonder what would happen if I left a dead lion out. Might get a vulture . . .

[Birdman]

Up to some 2 years ago I had all sorts of feeders and done well with a visiting of various birds, sparrows, tits, finches, magpies, occasional robin and have actually spotted a wren on one occasion...my garden is of approx 30 feet square of garden, lawned apart from a flower bed around the edges, but since new neighbours moved in, the quanty of visitors has practically halved, still, I'm not unduly worried since they also contribute to their feed and I still see the daily visitors..Since scattering premium hearts on my lawn we now have as many collared doves, a total of 14 landed on one occasion.
>>>Maybe your visitors do not like the new location, or perhaps not enough sun reaches it..have you any privet hedges to give them protection?.

[storye_book]

hi birdman - yes there's not much sun on the new west-side station, but i guess it's a matter of time really. there's protection as it's a small, untidy garden with stuff growing all over the high fences, a huge overhanging alder tree and the beck on one side.

but what i really want to do is make some sparrows. we have none in our village. the adjoining village had some in one hedge, but when that house went up for sale, the sparrows quit - maybe the owner had been feeding them and stopped. i was thinking there may be some sparrows at a nearby farm (20 mins walk away). a trail of wheat, maybe? but i'd have to make the trail daily, and would probably only get woodies. and i would have to get/make lots of sparrow nest/roost boxes. daft, yes. fun to do, yes. but would it work? there must be a way?

[Solomon]

We had no birds in our suburban garden for years (6-7), until we put fat balls out, and now we get visited by loads of sparrows every day.

[storye_book]

hi solomon. i guess it depends where you are. when we were in inner-city leeds we had the old-style hanging jacobi jayne nuttery birdcake feeder, and that got sparrows in it. it's been hanging here in harrogate since '96, complete with birdcake (with home-made or cj refills) but it's brought no sparrows to its new site. it just gets different birds (blue tit, great tit, coal tit, robin, long tailed tit, woodpecker (once), chaffinch [they fall off], starlings reaching from on top - etc). but maybe you break up your fat balls and put them on the ground?

[Solomon]

No, they hang in feeders (like a peanut feeder, only bigger). They did hang in the green nets, until a relative told me about a bluetit she had to rescue from a net once. Sparrows do tend to be the main bird we get in the garden, thoguh we do see (hear?) skylarks occasionally, and sparrowhawks.

[storye_book]

funny you should say that about fat balls and nets. i've just (belatedly) been looking at the rspb members' winter '06 mag, and the star (prizewinning) reader's letter was a whinge about dangerous fatball nets. she got a free pair of £109 bins for it: jammy whatsit. cjw and the rest of us have been saying this for ages.

[Birdman]

Hello Storye_book
Regarding the sparrows, I feel there is not a great deal you can do if none are in your vicinity but I found that by sprinkling some small pieces of white bread (smeared with marg or dripping) across your lawn or floor space makes easy sightings from above which in turn makes them curious and entices them to investigate, also the same applies to the other birds flying over, magpies and even starlings, to which incidently we have a nice flock of them all decending at the same time and in some 20 mins...the garden is clean...LOL..so more bread is needed..but the white bread stands out more visibly, it's works like those wild game bird hunters..place a decoy on the lawn to entice other to land and feed....but do bear in mind that whilst the farmers are in the fields, they have a wider selection of food to choose from..
Best wishes
Birdman

[storye_book]

Mmm - good idea, i'll try it.

The trouble is - I have to clear everything off the ground every night, because we're right next to the beck and greenbelt, and rats are endemic alongside streams. I don't mind them so long as they don't go in houses, but my suburban neighbours are jumpy about it, so i'd cop it if they thought I was attracting rodents. Currently I put it all on a slightly raised (1 foot) bird table, and clean it off each evening, at the new station on the west side.

At the established station on the south side, I have a bird-table frame on a cranked pole. My husband used his plumbing-hobby-skills to make it. It hangs out over the beck (so mess falls in there, heh heh), and I can revolve it sideways to refill it. it holds a tray which I bring in and clean at night. That one is always full of birds - we've had a moorhen on it recently. Anyway, I'll try the bread for a few days on the lawn and see what happens. Cheers and thanks for the idea.

[Birdman]

Oh I accept your worry concerning the rats, not a nice subject and moreso with your neighbours since it would not take much to have arguements, although rats are nearly as clever as squirrels for getting into the most unexpected of places..
Congrats on hubbies invention, maybe you could submit it and try to patent it...hahaa..just a thought.
Have noticed our birds starting to return on a more frequent basis and with a robin making a rare appearence..
Best wishes and I hope the 'white bread' makes some marked improvements.