Cold weather and birds

I have found some old nuts in a plastic container in our pantry, not bad, but not as fresh as we like them, so I shall be chopping these up tomorrow, perhaps with some dried fruit, and treating our (almost pet) blackbirds. They sit and chunter at us if we don't move along quick enough!

I love birds, such lovely little creatures.

Your  second  comment  is  also  one  of  the  reasons  I  empty  the  birdbath  WN,  as  you  say  they'll  poop  anywhere  

Hang the feeders, and apples, and anything else inside a hedge.  It allows lots of small birds to eat under cover, the sparrow hawk won't see them around the feeder and will go elsewhere.  I often think our old-style - in the open - feeders were like a take-away for birds of prey!  After finding more than one pile of feathers in the garden we started hanging everything inside our beech hedge - and feeding the ground feeders at the base of the hedge.   Now we don't have anything other than a red kite drifting over, and they're not interested in the feeding birds.

Red  Kites  are  weedy  creatures  despite  their  size.  That's  more  or  less  why  they  are,  in  the  main,  scavengers  apart  from  the  occasional  juicy  worm  so  long  as  its  not  big enough  to  fight  back  !! 

The Blackbirds in our garden do not normally bother much with the feeders as they find enough grubs, berries, plus apples we put out to satisfy there needs. However, as this winter has been so much harder than recent years, natures supply must have run out. They have been regular visitors particularly going for the mealworms embedded in the fat block and even the peanuts.

One group of birds that will suffer from the Beast from the East are those recent 'exotic' species which have arrived on our shores from warmer climes in the last couple of decades or so.

My father in law used to have a regular stream of blackbirds, thrushes , pheasants and robins come to his back door for a morning feed the robins in particular would hop onto the end of a kitchen table for hand feeding. Usually repeated at lunch time and there was always food by the door as well as hanging feeders by the kitchen window.

The male Blackbirds seem to have declared a cold weather truce. Either that or it is just too cold for territorial disputes. They seem to be sharing the bird feeders.😀

The cold is certainly providing a lot to look at. We rarely see a Starling in the garden, let alone on the feeders. A few minutes ago it was covered by a whole flock. Amazing sight. Unfortunately they did not stop long enough for me to get a picture. I think it might need restocking.

Might  get  a  second  chance  this  w/end  SteveL  --  not  as  cold { thank  Evans  }  but  still  liable  to  freeze  the  bird  baths  and  bring customers  to the  tables.