Bird Feeder

1 January 2014

Back garden

Breakfast time; A good bird to start the new year with; a great spotted woodpecker flew down briefly to the fat balls then made its way up the golden hornet crab apple. We must try putting out a mealworm fat block.

We're also trying a new bird feeder with a seed mix that includes a lot of sunflower seeds. A coal tit is an occasional visitor, often closely followed, or more probably chased away, by a blue tit, which doesn't otherwise seem to bother with this feeder. Perhaps the hopper is more awkward to perch on than the plastic rings on the other feeders.

Hard-wired for Hyperactivity

More likely the husks are just too much trouble to remove, unless, like the the coal tit, you're hard-wired to be hyperactive so that you enjoy the challenge. The ready to eat version, sunflower hearts, is available on the adjacent feeders.

The coal tit seems to be lower down in the pecking order so extracting the seeds from the husks might be preferable to the hassle involved in accessing the favourite feeders.

Siskins are assertive enough to be able to hold their ground against most rivals. The male is a smart, colourful visitor to the feeders on a dull morning.

Three long-tailed tits come to the fatball feeder. They're usually in and out quite quickly while the goldfinches and chaffinches gleaning spilt grain on the ground beneath the feeders tend to be a permanent fixture.

Even the robin has learnt to use the sunflower feeder.

To be totally accurate I should say one of our four robins, but seeing two pairs together was a one-off event .