Trial and Error

There are times when I think we have the most spoilt garden birds in the county.  Currently, we have nine different bird feeders in two locations around the garden in addition to two bird baths and a drinking spot.  The first feeding area is directly outside the kitchen window where the feeders hang from the branches of a silver birch tree. The second is a free standing feeder station that we located in the corner of the garden.

The feeding station in the corner of the garden.

There's been a fair bit of trial and error over the years but what we found works best for us in our particular garden can be completely different a few gardens away (our neighbour Bill regularly gets different bird visitors than ourselves despite being just over a hundred metres from us).  Here are a few tips that we've learnt over the years that might be helpful.

Reduce the Waste
We use peanuts, fat-balls, niger seed and by far the most popular are sunflower hearts.  Sunflower hearts are a little more expensive that sunflower seed but it does cut down on the messy seed husks the birds discard.  We were shocked to see a large brown rat one morning chomping away on the discarded husks, not what you want to see close to a kitchen door. Sunflower hearts definitely reduce the mess.

Niger seed, is very popular with goldfinches, but it will also kill the grass underneath the feeder after a while.  We use a niger feeder with an detachable tray, this cuts down on the amount of seed that hits the ground.

Location, Location, Location
Birds seem to prefer a bit of cover close to the feeders, so they can dash to safety should a Sparrowhawk or other predator put in an appearance.  We originally placed the feeding station in an open area of the garden and nothing used it.

A Bullfinch pays a visit

Feeders
The choice of available bird feeders now is staggering.  We've worked our way through quite a few and personally (for our circumstances anyway) more expensive metal feeders for the sunflower hearts and peanuts work best.  Remember that you need to clean and sterilise the feeders regularly to avoid any nasty diseases that can spread through the bird population and metal feeders tend to be more resilient to repeated disassembly and reassembly.

If you can provide a source of water for the birds as well, this would be fantastic.  You'll be surprised just how many birds this can attract to your garden.

A place to bathe is always welcomed

Squirrels
I'm not the greatest fan or grey squirrels and if you have them in your garden chances are they will pretty much trough what food you have out,  They can also destroy your feeders themselves by biting through the perch plugs and pulling them out, thus emptying the food all over the ground.  Metal feeders can stop the destruction but they can still get the food. (although they don't bother with niger seed so we just have a plastic feeder for this).  If you mix in chilli powder with the feed the squirrels won't go near it and it won't have any effect on the birds.  (I'm not totally heartless, I don't do this with the peanuts so they can eat something untainted).

The plastic birdfeeder was ruined within the week.

You can't stop
If you start putting food out for birds, especially in the winter months when food is scarce, then you need to understand that it is a long term commitment.  Birds will come to depend on this source of sustenance, and if you forget to refill the feeders or just plain stop then you could unwittingly have a detrimental impact on the bird population.

It is worth it, because you get to see things like this.

A Greater Spotted Woodpecker loves fat-balls.