Topic: Our Feathered Garden Visitors

[gazza1960]

Upside down Siskin.



Woodpecker pays us a visit most days.



Bluetit on the nut ball

Gazza





 

[BarriedaleNick]

Lovely to see.

We don't get anything exotic - just sparrows and tits but they have gone through a whole feeder in one day - They love mealworms!

[gazza1960]

Woody on the Bird Bath



Nuthatch feeding the family



Nuthatch Cleaning house.

also watched them today frightening away a pair of sparrows who were trying to evict them and their babies from the birdbox
shame but true how real life in the animal kingdom goes on.

[antipodes]

Watched the bluetits feeding their babies the other day, my neighbour at the plot has a wee nesting box on their shed. I am amazed at how the birds fit through that tiny hole! Yet they do. SO lovely to see the little beaks coming out the hole, screeching for their dinner. The mum must be exhausted, she did that back and forth all afternoon, while the dad sits on my shed and squawks at us humans!

[Paulines7]

Lovely birds Gazza.  You are so lucky to have a nuthatch nesting in a box.   

I try not to encourage the birds these days as I now have the two cats, so I have not refilled the feeders for several months.  William catches field voles all the time but Winston chases the birds.  He came indoors with a robin fledgling, yesterday.  I couldn't put it back near the nest as I didn't know from where he had caught it so I put it out on our flat roof and hoped that the parent would hear it chirruping and feed it.  Unfortunately, it did not survive.  I really miss seeing the woodpeckers which were regular visitors to our feeders too. 

[Jayb]

Love your pictures, super selection of birds 
We don't get siskins coming to the garden here but a friend just a mile or so has lots of them.

[gazza1960]

Yep,were kitty luvvers  too but although our neighbour has 2 so far they've steered clear of tragedy
It's more birds killing birds at the mo.

We only have 1 bird box up on a silver birch and so far we have seen sparrows attempt to re home
For another brood by kicking out the nuthatches,then the woody sits outside the box peaking in
And the residents go ballistic,this morning we had 2 magpies hanging onto the box and again the nuthatches were going spare,we have a small copse over the back fence and I was going to sneak the ladder out there and put up a few more boxes as there quite cheap at our garden centre.

Wierd thing happened last eve, I was sitting doing a barby and the hatches were feeding madly
1 arrives and takes a pellet of food and almost at the same time a puff of smoke from the barby
Blew around the feeder I can only think the bird was overcome as it sat in the tray for a good 5 minutes.....you know what that was less than 8 feet from where I sat and I just looked on as it sat there blinking with the food in its beak,I couldn't believe how lucky I was to see one of these beautiful birds so up close and personal for so long......Jude became concerned so I stood up and it flew off none the worse.....lovely moment.

Gazza

[Paulines7]

.........then the woody sits outside the box peaking in and the residents go ballistic,
Gazza

You may have to put wire mesh around the box.  See: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/expert/previous/woodpeckers_eat_chicks.aspx

There is a picture of a nestbox that has been attacked here:
http://www.wildlifegardener.co.uk/can-i-prevent-woodpeckers-attacking-nest-boxes.html

[gazza1960]

Very interesting articles Pauline and although I have not seen any woodies trying to peck holes in our box it would,be sad to watch the box contents being emptied including the young if the small nuthatches can't defend it.

It's only now after all these years having a garden do Jude and myself appreciate just how battle scarred a birds life can become when another species is trying to EAT IT.....between the woodys,magpies and Jackdaws they call the tune in the garden,all the small species just flit around the edges.