Birdfoodbypost

Robin& Wren numbers Down in 2010

2011-02-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

Waiting to see of a Robin or Wren takes up our new nest box. Wren numbers down 20% on five year average. Nest box might give them a helping hand. In 2010 Robin numbers were also down 27% compared to the five year average. With this winter being the coldest for 30 years, a good breeding season is required along with the provision of nest boxes can help them to bounce back.

New Twist Bird Feeder

2011-01-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

Twist Bird Seed Feeder

This a brilliant new bird feeder with three twisted tubes in one allowing you to feed three types of bird food at once. It great, gives the birds a choice from one bird seed feeder. Especially useful if you are short of space.

Nest Box exploration by Great Tits

2011-01-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

It may well still be winter, but the Great Tits have been seen investigating the nest boxes and some Blue Tits appeared to have paired up exploring the garden for food together. So if you are thinking about putting up a nest box or two, it's time to get those nest boxes and put them up. We have a range of nest boxes in stock and with the National Nest Box Week coming up on 14th February, now is the time to make that committment.

National Garden Birdwatch 29th-30th January 2011

2011-01-10T05:55:00.000-08:00

Please don't forget the RSPB's National Garden Birdwatch coming up at the end of the month. An excellent opportunity for everyone to count the birds that they see in their garden over a weekend. full details can be found on the RSPB's website. If you are going to feed the birds over this weekend, remember to keep the feeders stocked up and the bird bath full of clean water.

Build Your Own Nest Box - An Ideal Youngsters Christmas Present

2010-11-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

Build Your Own Nest Box

* Wooden nest box pack - with everything needed to produce a nest box!
* 32mm entrance hole is perfect for House Sparrows, Great Tits and nuthatches
* Contains: pre-cut wood sections, all screws, nails, washers and a hanger

CJWildlife Peanut Cake With Seed 500ml Tube

2010-11-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

CJWildlife Peanut Cake With Seed 500ml Tube - now in stock

These excellent, convenient fat and seed blocks are brilliant for feeding the tits. Peanut cake with seed is high in essential calories. Each 500ml tube has a handy hanging point for hanging up on a hook.

CJWildlife bird food now in stock

2010-11-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

We have now added CJWildlife's excellent bird food mixes to our range of bird foods as well as a number of other bird feeder accessories. We had noticed that within Wiltshire, the CJWildife range was limited, but is now available from us. The CJWildlife Table Seed is a best seeler and very popular.

As Winter Approaches - Remember To Feed The Wild Birds

2010-11-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

As winter approaches, the importance of feeding the birds increases with time as resources in the countryside deminish. During the winter the birds need a good amount of energy stored up to survive the winter nights. The easier it is to find food, the better chance of their survival from day to day. During cold night birds can loose up to ten percent of their body weight, so "breakfast" can be an important meal for the birds. Birdfoodbypost are able to supply a wide range of bird seed mixes, fat balls, suet pellets, peanuts and the ever popular sunflower hearts. The provision of un-frozen clean water is a must during the winter months. If you have any fresh fruit - apples of pears, these are a good source of food for thrushes. Mealworms are also a favourite for Robins.

Grey Partridges

2010-11-03T07:15:00.000-07:00

How often do you see Grey or English Partidges in our fields, let along your garden? These were seen early morning feeding on the lawn in the moors of North Yorkshire. Tawny Owls were also calling in the night of the same day.

Vine House Farm Bird Food/Bird Seed

2010-10-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

Bird foodbypost have reduced prices on their Vine House Farm bird food, mixed seed and other wild bird food products this month.

Preventing Bird Feeder Mess On The Ground

2010-10-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest problems with hanging feeders is the amount of food the birds drop on the ground. Not all the dropped food gets eaten. So what do you do? You can use some specialist trays that screw into the bottom of the feeder that come in various sizes. However, the pigeons and doves can land on them and then feed from the feeders. Not what you want in most cases. Next best thing is to take the same feeder trays and suspend them much lower by using hanging basket chanins. The trays can be drilled to allow the chains to be attached. The bigger the suspended tray the better, the more food it catches before hitting the ground. The birds can then use the tray to feed on the dropped food, pigeons and all. But the pigeons cannot feed on the feeders themselves from the feeder! Great!

Encouraging Birds in your Garden in Late Summer

2010-08-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

It is now late summer when the nights are drawing in and the much needed rain revives the dead looking grass in your back garden into a lush green. The flowers and shrubs give a dash of red and a splash of orange, a pinch of blue with dabs of yellow and young birds flitting all around. Doesn't that sound straight out of an artist's canvas? This is the magic of that late summer time when all the young birds add an additional splash of colour to the garden. They paint the sky with their feathers, fluttering between trees and shrubs calling to each other.

Garden bird feeding is more than a seasonal activity; it’s an all year round activity where you should provide the birds with food, water and shelter in order to enjoy watching them. It is important that you provide the right food for them and are careful about keeping the feeders clean and the food dry. Niger seed is ideal for Goldfinches which are specialist feeders on the seeds of thistles. Niger seed does however require a specific feeder with small holes in to prevent the tiny seed from escaping in a rush as it would do in an ordinary feeder. Young birds can find it difficult to consume some food types such as peanuts and bread on your bird table at this time of the year. Peanuts should not be provided loose, but in a wired feeder. Bird Suet or suet pellets are a useful bonus to feeding garden birds as autumn progresses.

Suet bird food is available in a wide variety of flavours from fruit and berry to peanuts as well as coconuts full of suet which will attract many tits into the garden. Suet is often purchased in square blocks. Niger seeds are also an ideal food for Goldfinches in the late summer season and may be found naturally where wild thistles grow. You need to ensure that buy these suet bird foods and niger seeds from a trustworthy source. There are many internet websites which allow you to purchase these online.

One of the ideal ways to feed these birds with suet bird food and in the garden is to place the food in the feeders hanging from some trees in your garden. But not all birds are able to use hanging feeders, so consider a bird table to encourage 'ground feeding' birds such as blackbirds, robins, thrushes, wrens, dunnocks and chaffinches. This allows them to eat in their natural way at the same time keeps them from harm's way.

Along with providing bird feeders you can also grow plants that produce fruit in the garden such as blackberries, blackcurrants and hawthorn. These can serve as an attraction for the birds especially in the autumn and winter. Some bird species have been in a decline and therefore feeding them all year round does encourage them and helps them sustain their numbers.

Try creating some natural habitat in your garden for the birds before feeding them with suet bird food and niger seeds. Keep some wild areas in your garden for the birds to feel at home. Birds locate food by sight and it is important that you keep the food in open places easily visible to them. You also need to make sure that the birds in your garden have a supply of clean and fresh water. All birds need water for bathing and keeping their feathers clean and in good condition.

A Quiet August - Away to Avoid Wasted Food on Hanging Feeders

2010-08-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a quiet month so far although a lot of young birds are coming to the feeders and bathing in the waterfall. Its nice to see a variety of different species on one feeder, but the weather is very wet for taking photos at the moment. If you find that the birds drop a lot of food on the ground that is wasted even with Wood Pigeons and Collard Doves around, try placing a hanging tray a foot or so down from the feeder. This will collect the surplus food, the pigeons and doves can eat it, but they cannot reach the actual feeder ports themselves.

Young Goldfinches

2010-07-10T06:25:00.000-07:00

At last 3 young Goldfinches have appeared in the garden with their parents feeding on the sunflower hearts. Having had Goldfinches feeding all year, I was expecting to see some young before long. They were accompanied by young Great Tits as well. So many birds seem to love the sunflower hearts.

Summer Bird Feeding

2010-06-28T04:59:00.003-07:00

Feeding wild birds in your garden can be an overwhelming experience. This is even more so, when the birds come very close to you. There are so many different species that can come into your garden from Goldfinches to woodpeckers. Whatever comes to feed, they all need a good nutritional diet to have a healthy life. If you are going to attract birds to your garden to feed you need to think about what is the best bird food for the birds that you want to feed.

During the summer months, many birds will find their natural food in the fields, hedgerows and woods. But within towns and cities there may not be sufficient wild bird food locally. This is where you can help by providing additional bird food which can be fed to them providing then with the optimum diet required for their healthy growth. The common choices include various mixed seeds, Sunflower Hearts/Seeds, Niger (Thistle) Seed, Mealworms, Peanuts, Fat/Energy Balls, Suet Blocks and Suet Pellets. These are basically the main garden bird food types that you can feed a wide variety of birds with in the summer. So if you have a garden where you would like to feed your birds there are ample choices of foods from which to choose. You can always experiment with different bird foods and see what they like where you live. There are often variations in what birds like from place to place.

For many, all year round bird feeding is a favourite past time. Those that provide the summer feeding stations can have the pleasure of seeing young birds coming to their gardens. However the number of birds coming during the summer is comparatively less than during the winter. Summer feeding can also attract some migratory birds adding colour and diversity to the bird tables. Of all these, one of the most common summer bird foods are sunflower hearts which Goldfinches and Greenfinches love. Sunflower hearts avoid the wastage of seed husks as these have been removed thus making the food more readily available than if the seeds were still in their husks. Blue tits and Great Tits all love sunflower hearts as well. The various seed mixes are great for a variety of birds, but if you want to attract birds such as Song Thrushes and Blackbirds you will need to buy some softbill seeds mixes such as Harrison’s Song Bird Mix.

In summer you can also feed your birds with dried mealworms which have been previously soaked in water for a short time. This can benefit young birds especially. Feeding wild birds in the summer will provide you a unique and enjoyable experience. Go on, give it a try as see how you get on.

Great Tit Young Out Of The Nest Box

2010-05-19T04:17:00.000-07:00

The Great Tits that were nesting in one of our nest boxes have finally hatched their young and yesterday they flew the nest. The adults were regularly flying between the nest box and the sunflower hearts. There are also young balckbirds about now in a number of places.?

Sunflower Hearts Attract Bullfinches

2010-05-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely surprise to see a male Bullfinch come into the garden today that went straight for the sunflower hearts. We have never seen one in the garden at all recently, let along feeding on sunflower hearts along with the Greenfinches and Goldfinches. It must have spotted the other birds and came in to give it a go. We will have to see if he keeps coming back.

The Sound of Spring

2010-04-20T05:56:00.000-07:00

The sounds of spring are well underway now with Blackcaps singing away. Grasshopper and Cetti's Warblers are also in full song in many reedbeds. Swallows are about, but in low numbers so far. This lovely sunny weather is bringing all trees and hedegrows out in bloom which in turn should provide some much needed insect food for our birds. Sunflower hearts are still in great demand in our garden along with the niger seed. Has anyone heard any Cuckoos yet, although it may be a bit early?

Nature's Feast Squirrel Proof Feeder

2010-04-14T23:53:00.001-07:00

We have recently taken on supplying Nature's Feast food and feeder products and the Royal Squirrel Proof feeder is proving very popular. It is a very attractive design with a stainless steel top. How has anyone found these in practise to use?

Spring Coastal Migration Underway

2010-04-07T02:39:00.000-07:00

Swallaws, House Martins & Sand Martins were all moving in large numbers below the coastal cliffs of North Devon, yesterday. All moving in a westerly direction under the cloud cover. Not sure there is going to be much insect life about to feed on at the moment, I hope they all manage to survive and spring gets a move on. At the moment out here it still looks like winter.

Three Swallows at Lacock on 31st March

2010-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

I was rather surprised to see three swallows flying together in a field next to the road at Lacock on 31st March. That seems rather early considering the weather we have had lately, but perhaps they came in on a southerly wind.

Spring At Last?

2010-03-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

The green shoots of spring are just appearing here, very small leaves are just coming out. Rather later than usual. The ground is still quite wet. The birds coming to the feeders appear to have dropped off, especially the Goldfinches. The Great Tits are still exploring the nest boxes, but no nest building yet.

Spring Migrant Arrivals

2010-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Heard two Chiffchaffs singing away yesterday in the sunshine in two seperate places in Mleksham, the first of our spring migrant arrivals. Blackbirds are busy nest building, but the Great Tits have not yet starting nest building in our nest box although they have been seen going inside a number of times for 5 minutes or so at a time.

Hanging Feeder Trays

2010-03-11T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hanging bird feeders are great, but the birds can drop a lot of food on the ground when feeding. This is fine as long as other ground feeding birds eat it up. But if the ground is wet, the dropped food is often left and goes mouldy, in which case you need to clear it up. However, the use of a feeder tray which screws to the bottom of most feeders helps to reduce the mess on the ground by collecting the food as it falls from the birds feeding on the feeder. As it collects in the tray birds will often clear it up and thus reduce the waste. But these trays have their disadvantages, they enable larger birds to feed from them including Pigeons, Doves and Crows. If you want to discourage these birds, use the smaller use the A-Tray Universal Hanging Feeder Tray which is only 19cm in diameter. Larger birds cannot land on it so easily.

Birds starting to nest.

2010-03-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

The weather seems to have improved this week and I notice that Blackbirds are already building their nests in the bushes down our way and the Great Tits and Blue Tits have been exploring the nest boxes for a week or so now. It's a good idea to put out any material that could be used for nest building including pieces of wool, cotton even moss if you can find it that the birds can pick up easily when they come to feed.

Feeder Fresh to Keep Bird Food Dry

2010-03-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

This very wet weather is not that helpful when it comes to keeping the bird food dry in the feeders. It tends to get quite damp and the food that drops on the ground makes a rather sticky mess if it's not eaten up quickly by the doves and pigeons. Does anyone have a way stopping it all becoming so messy other than useing something like Feeder Fresh?