Garden wildlife

[gsgsgs]

last year I bought a bird feeder with several arms for varying things.

I put out suet balls, seed, nuts, sunflower hearts & mealworm (ground feeder) at first I was descended on by pigeons then starlings and hoped for something a little more interesting.

Over a few weeks/months I was amazed as to the variety of birds I got, sadly I'm no ornithologist so can't tell you what they are but the variety is great and lovely to see and they come daily.

Over the last few months I've watched a family of hedgehogs (at least 4) come every night to eat the mealworm so started buying specific hedgehog food.

My neighbour is 90 and he often tells me he'll sit in his garden and watch my bird feeder and take pleasure in seeing birds he's never seen before, living there for 50+ years.

[Lamparilla]

A few months ago I noticed a goldfinch flying about. I already have feeders out for blue tits etc., but I did a bit of research and found that they love niger seeds, which are tiny black seeds. You need a special feeder, which is basically a plastic tube with tiny holes.

I bought a feeder and a bag of niger seeds from Wilko, and within days it attracted several goldfinches - must have been parents with the young ones hatched in the spring.

They became daily visitors every morning, and I couldn't believe how much they ate - I was filling the feeder every few days.

A couple of weeks ago they had gone: they go south for the winter, possibly to Spain according to this:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...a-z/goldfinch/

I'm hoping they'll be back next year.

[Alikado]

last year I bought a bird feeder with several arms for varying things.

I put out suet balls, seed, nuts, sunflower hearts & mealworm (ground feeder) at first I was descended on by pigeons then starlings and hoped for something a little more interesting.

Over a few weeks/months I was amazed as to the variety of birds I got, sadly I'm no ornithologist so can't tell you what they are but the variety is great and lovely to see and they come daily.

Over the last few months I've watched a family of hedgehogs (at least 4) come every night to eat the mealworm so started buying specific hedgehog food.

My neighbour is 90 and he often tells me he'll sit in his garden and watch my bird feeder and take pleasure in seeing birds he's never seen before, living there for 50+ years.

Squirrel Proof Feeders are handy for keeping Starlings off, if you venture out Croston way you can buy various types of Bird Feed more cheaply at
www.thecornmill.com
apart from big bags they sell the food loose and bagged up in smaller amounts.
Hedgehogs also like peanuts as well as mealworms but they need to be crushed up a bit. Try building a Hedgehog House out of an old wooden box or some scrap timber for them to spend to their winter months in.

[Starling]

Squirrel Proof Feeders are handy for keeping Starlings off, if you venture out Croston way you can buy various types of Bird Feed more cheaply at
www.thecornmill.com
apart from big bags they sell the food loose and bagged up in smaller amounts.
Hedgehogs also like peanuts as well as mealworms but they need to be crushed up a bit. Try building a Hedgehog House out of an old wooden box or some scrap timber for them to spend to their winter months in.

Oi ... there's nowt wrong with Starlings!

[joan ofarc]

Oi ... there's nowt wrong with Starlings!

I love starlings too. They are like an argumentative chapel of Hell's Angels that decend on the lawn, grab all the food, have a rumble then fly off. They are great parents though, returning to the food every 10 or 15 minutes then flying off with their beaks full in a very determined manner. I particularly enjoy it when the babies can fly and start coming to the lawn to learn where the scran is. This year it started with two babies and we were up to 15 by the end of the season.
I was troubled by pigeons and had to get a couple of domes for the lawn to keep the bigger birds out. The blackbirds got the hang of it within 15 minutes and this year I have seen a baby hedgehog inside one of them.

[gsgsgs]

Oi ... there's nowt wrong with Starlings!

I guess they're nice enough

When the youngsters fledged and arrived it was like a scene from The Birds!

[gsgsgs]

I love starlings too. They are like an argumentative chapel of Hell's Angels that decend on the lawn, grab all the food, have a rumble then fly off. They are great parents though, returning to the food every 10 or 15 minutes then flying off with their beaks full in a very determined manner. I particularly enjoy it when the babies can fly and start coming to the lawn to learn where the scran is. This year it started with two babies and we were up to 15 by the end of the season.
I was troubled by pigeons and had to get a couple of domes for the lawn to keep the bigger birds out. The blackbirds got the hang of it within 15 minutes and this year I have seen a baby hedgehog inside one of them.

Blackbirds & magpies are regular visitors.

[gsgsgs]

Redpole as well apparently

[KissThis]

Starlings are members of the corvid family, and can be taught to speak.
I had one about a year ago, and he was a 'long termer' due to the amount of injuries he had. He learned to say ''Iiiiits medicine time!''
Here's a youtube clip of a starling talking

[Little Londoner]

Oi ... there's nowt wrong with Starlings!

Calm down Clarice!

[jamyramy]

Blackbirds & magpies are regular visitors.

my garage has become the annual maternity ward for them these last four years,anyone want a birds nest going cheap(duh!!!)have adozen job lot or will split!be able to get on with a few engineering held back jobs now they've gone off to recover after all that sh...ing!haha! but got a few h/hogs drive my mishy to distraction at nights security watch to earn her bedtime biccies.

[*concerned*]

We have a fox that's is a regular visiter

[seivad]

We have a lot of foxes. Beautiful creatures, although I hate seeing them running through the garden with squirrels in their mouth.

This little critter loves sitting in the sun on our doorstep, but doesn't mind sleeping in the snow either. I call him Basil, such an original name!