Theres been a Robin following me around for the last few weeks, lately he's been landing everywhere I work and getting braver by the day. I was putting some weeds and cabbage leaves in the compost bin and went to get some more as I was about to drop them in when the Robin flew out the bin, frightened the bloody life out of me :o , was he looking for my Tiger Worms. ;D ;D ;D
probably looking for batman.
Lucky you. I saw a robin in my garden last week and got quite excited but haven't seen him since.
Hi all, to get more birds into your garden, start to put feeders out and mulching your flower borders, in my small garden i have blackbirds, thrushes, and a robin hunting in the mulch for small insects and worms, its nice to watch each morning ;)
This is my friend Robin. He waits for me to dig some of the ground so he can get his breakfast. First thing I do when I arrive is get my fork out of the shed and just turn over a bit of the ground to reveal some worms. I have 7 fat balls hanging from the hedge at the back of the shed. I also throw down some fresh wild bird seed every morning.
(http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/ElleEss_photos/Allotment21006-1.jpg)
So jealous, still mustn't be too impatient only took 2 years for the Siskins to visit :)
still have starlings, collared doves and plenty of sparrows but haven't seen my blackbirds for a while.
I have had one around in the past few weeks. Been great company in the garden, although I couldnt get him to come very close as many of them do. I think sometimes he listened out for me to come out into the garden to start work, appearing nearby to have a look at what I was doing and if there was any food about for him. Felt like he was saying; 'Hello, what are you up to today mate?'
I had him singing for a while too. Lovely little tune, different but not better than the black bird song in spring (which I adore BTW). It was nice to think he was singing just to/for me, but of course he wasnt! Nice thought though. ;D
Yes he was WG ;D. We were visited by 2 robins for 3 years, but not last year. Have put food out on the (anti cat) feeder in the hopes of a visit this year.
I might get some of them ball thingys Lauren but I don't know if the bigger birds or squirrels would let him get a look in. :-\ ;D ;D ;D
Yesterday we had a robin hanging around for a good half an hour while I tidied up the garden. He flitted around all over the place but spent most of the time in the apple tree although didn't seem to fancy the fat balls we've got hung up in there.
Managed to snap a pic of him which is on our blog... www.growingourown.co.uk
:)
I will probably be told otherwise, but Robins don't really go hanging about on the Fat Balls. They prefer eating seed from a bird table or seed put out under bushes. You find that the Robin waits until no other bird is around when it grabs some food. However, fat balls are welcome to loads of other garden birds including starlings, jackdaws.
:) :)
Hi Carol
I make my own fat balls/cakes consisting of bread and mixed seed including pea nuts, sunflower hearts, niger seed and premier bird seed minced up in a food processor, covered with beef dripping and put into a mould (small basin) and into fridge to solidify. When hung up the Robin is a regular visitor maybe because they are big enough for it to stand on.
I have also noticed the Robin will obtain sunflower hearts from the feeder, perch and grab rather than perch and feed.
It does however prefer ground feeding.
ahhh that'll explain it then. I thought it may be just because I was around. I'd put some food on the ground for it but that may be tempting fate with the kittens (they have bells on their collars though).
Perhaps I'll get another tree feeder and fill it with something other than fat balls... What do they like?
You can get seed mix from any garden centre for your feeders, in fact bird seed seems to be sold everywhere these days.
That sounds like a super duper feed for your birds Toadspawn.. I just feed my birds with Table seed, nyger, sunflower hearts, bought fat balls, peanuts, raisons, apples. and any scraps from the kitchen, i.e. left over pastry, bread etc. etc. I have never seen a Robin hanging from a Fat Ball. I watch birds all the time and have at least 3 Robins visit. They fight constantly. I have a Robin for each side of my garden, their own territory!!! so have a couple of different feeding areas.
A favouite food of the birds that visit my garden are Sunflower hearts, eaten by Blue and Great Tits, Sparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Nuthatches, Starlings. It is eaten so quickly that it is cheaper to buy it by a 12.5 kg bag than small amounts. I also scatter Premier seed mix on the lawn for the seed eating ground feeders. It does not contain any wheat and as only the Wood Pigeon ate it much of it germinated so the lawn was a mess. I also have feeders with whole peanuts, niger seed and black sunflower seed. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is a regular visitor to the peanuts.
If I am lucky four Robins will be feeding at the same time. Surprisingly they do not seem to be territorial at this time of the year and if they fight it is only half-hearted.
Disappointed that so far this year the Siskins have not appeared.
Swap you my Siskins for a Nuthatch ;D ;D ;D
They have made their way into S.Scotland but not made my Garden yet.
I agree the sunflower hearts are eaten by loads of birds. I buy my feed from CJWildbirdfoods.
;D ;D
Hi Carol
Maybe share rather than swap ;D
I have two Nuthatches come every day. Two years ago they nested in one of my boxes, hopful they might use it again next year. No kidding, two years ago I had 50 Siskins turn up every day. Only an odd one last winter and so far none this year. However, plenty of time to go.
The Blackbirds have stripped my Pyracantha of berries, usually get about 10 every day at present.
Thought about the birds which turned up today and there are quite a lot already, Blue, Great, Coal Tits, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Starling, Blackbird, Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Pied Wagtail, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Jay. Am I lucky or what? ;D ;D
For about a week a Grey Wagtail was hanging around the pond, but it has gone now.
Hey thats quite some list Toadspawn. I get on average 22 species in a week. Only one missing is the Nuthatch. I have had the Grey Wagtail at my pond, also a Dipper came up fromthe River to my pond. I note you don't have the Tree Sparrow either. They have become quite common around here the past couple of years. Oh and I have never ever seen a Jay. Not many around here. Do you count for the BTO? They would welcome a list like that. PM me if you are interested. I have done it for years now and try to recruit folk at local events.
;) ;)
My robin seems to have disappeared in the last few days, or rather i havent seen him about. That said there havent been many birds around at all recently, although they have started to appear again this morning.
Conversely, whilst the robin(s) have disappeared, the blackbirds have come back. I watched one (very handsome) male this morning busy 'clearing up' dropped food under the bird feeders, and generaly foraging around at the base of a nearby hedge.
I also had wood pigeons return to the garden. Now they are usualy regular visitors (not nessesarily a good thing), but again have been absent for a long time. Three of themm appeared this morning and promptly started squabbling over the bird table!
Robin seen by back door......hooray. ;D ;D
Blessed Starlings have appeared here this week, I let them have a feed then shoo them off. Saw a green woodpecker in my garden last week, I understand from my neighbour that they nest nearby.