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Post by Mb2t on Nov 9, 2020 21:13:03 GMT
I know I have not been posting much lately, but that is not because I was not busy. As part of a new hobby, I have built a bird feed table, which brought quite a few birds to our garden, despite it being in London. I also built a birdbox which was used last year by a Great Tit, and they had 2 chicks. It was very interesting, and that fact that they fledged right in front of our eyes (we were sitting in the garden at the time) made us even more interested. So this year we have decided to put a camera inside the boxes (well, one more box was added...) in the hope that we will be able to see more, as last year we were not aware that the box is in use until very late. To that, I have now installed cameras in both boxes. After installing the first camera I was very surprised to get a detection alarm - looked at the camera, and there was a Blue Tit in the box. It seem that he/she get in at dusk and leave first thing in the morning, and therefore we did not see it. As rumour spread between friend that I have this camera, quite a few have asked to see it, so I decided to put the videos on YouTube, as it is the easiest solution... I have to download from the camera and cut a bit (otherwise it is very boring ) but if anyone is interested the link is below. Surprising for London we have quite a few species visiting - we have the regular Goldfinch group (10-15 of them), a Robin, Blue Tit, Jay and of course the pigeon that cannot eat from the table and eats whatever the Goldfinches drop on the floor (that is a lot - I think their system is one in the beak three on the floor). Enjoy if you wish! MB Birdwatch |
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Post by davrav on Nov 9, 2020 21:23:27 GMT
Excellent. Do you also have a raised birdbath/water dish? We have had all sorts of birds visit ours. I also put a large water dish on the ground near the house and have had a number of hedgehogs using it through the summer in the evenings.
If you have any fairly dense ivy or climbers you may well have wrens but they are quite hot to spot.
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Post by Mb2t on Nov 9, 2020 21:42:45 GMT
Excellent. Do you also have a raised birdbath/water dish? We have had all sorts of birds visit ours. I also put a large water dish on the ground near the house and have had a number of hedgehogs using it through the summer in the evenings. If you have any fairly dense ivy or climbers you may well have wrens but they are quite hard to spot. Full amenities... The birdboxes are on a trellis covered with Clematis, so quite good coverage (that is why we did not see the Tit coming in!), there is a bird table with seeds and fat balls, and there is a dish of water. I hope to install a camera looking on the bird table in the coming days as this is where most of the action is now. Have not seen hedgehogs in the garden, but we had one last year using our front door mat as sleeping bed. |
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Post by shcm on Nov 9, 2020 22:34:50 GMT
10 or more wrens will huddle together in nest boxes during the winter to keep warm, so it would be interesting to see whether you get any activity like that, as well as the blue tit.  Until we got a pond (moved house), I never fully grasped how much of an additional wildlife magnet, suburban water can be. The pond's only a few feet in each dimension, but we even had a couple of mallards visiting daily, during the first "lockdown"....and of course we get the obligatory grey heron now and again (they'll take their chances looking for a meal anywhere). Good stuff Mb2t! |
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Post by widge on Nov 10, 2020 7:07:29 GMT
We only feed the birds here in the winter when it gets colder as we are in the country with masses of forrest around, through the year we mainly get black redstarts hanging around the garden
we usualy start feeding by now but it has been so mild there is still lots of stuff around for them to eat, but once we start there will be loads of blue and great tits, marsh tits chaffinches and a few nut hatches, as it gets colder we will also get green and gold finches, then the biggest is the hawfinch, and a selection of other small birds. And of course Robins.
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Post by unclebob on Nov 10, 2020 10:00:45 GMT
The blue tit box I built a few years back has been busy every year since , the mums and dads rush in and out with food for the chicks you wonder how they have the stamina.
As far as bird feeders go we’ve been less successful....yes it attracts birds but also mice and rats, not a lover of rats so took the feeder down again . Will put something different up over the winter.
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Post by Mb2t on Nov 10, 2020 10:12:16 GMT
The blue tit box I built a few years back has been busy every year since , the mums and dads rush in and out with food for the chicks you wonder how they have the stamina. As far as bird feeders go we’ve been less successful....yes it attracts birds but also mice and rats, not a lover of rats so took the feeder down again . Will put something different up over the winter. Rodents are a problem, but we have 'Smadge'... the next neighbors cat which takes care of them.... my biggest problem with the tabke was actually the Squirrel. .. he finished anything we put on the table. There was a particular one that jumped from the floor 1.2m up in the air to get to the table! Tabke is now 1.8m, and that squirrel is, well, i think was taken care of by dear Smadge (according to the neighbors he brought home 7 of them over a couple if weeks). I have some videos of mr squirrel attempting the jump and might add them to the channel. |
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Post by charliefarlie on Nov 10, 2020 10:43:10 GMT
The blue tit box I built a few years back has been busy every year since , the mums and dads rush in and out with food for the chicks you wonder how they have the stamina. As far as bird feeders go we’ve been less successful....yes it attracts birds but also mice and rats, not a lover of rats so took the feeder down again . Will put something different up over the winter. Rodents are a problem, but we have 'Smadge'... the next neighbors cat which takes care of them.... my biggest problem with the tabke was actually the Squirrel. .. he finished anything we put on the table. There was a particular one that jumped from the floor 1.2m up in the air to get to the table! Tabke is now 1.8m, and that squirrel is, well, i think was taken care of by dear Smadge (according to the neighbors he brought home 7 of them over a couple if weeks). I have some videos of mr squirrel attempting the jump and might add them to the channel. Squirrels will ransack any nests they can find. They eat the eggs and chicks...Rats with tails. |
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Post by shcm on Nov 10, 2020 11:01:03 GMT
I have a love/hate relationship with the squirrels. Entertaining and wouldn't want to see them harmed, but they can be quite destructive with the wrong kind of bird feeders. We've left seed out for them and it's been ignored and still they go for the same seed in the feeders. Not that smart sometimes. They will run along 2 fences and by you going diagonally, you can be waiting for them at their "escape point".
The recent research on red/grey squirrel / pine marten interaction was interesting.
I've found the hat/cone shaped tilting squirrel baffles to be reasonably effective in the past. A current on going project is building & installing a couple of feeder poles and baffles out of some fairly thick walled "slot-able" aluminium tubing (which was originally intended to support a long wire HF antenna) and galvanised sheet. I find the commercial poles flimsy, a bit rust prone and expensive for what they are & with "better" materials to hand, it seemed the way to go.
EDIT: more birds:
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Post by unclebob on Nov 10, 2020 11:22:21 GMT
Squirrel are a problem as well as seem very resourceful at getting around any deterrent...did think of grease on the feeder pole but that not very safe for them ...yes they are a pain but wouldn’t want to see any harm come to them .
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Post by philip42h on Nov 10, 2020 11:25:54 GMT
Which reminds me ... I've a bit of repair work to do to Dad's blue tit box ...  He was something of a birder. You can just about see the camera cable at the back though the camera lens itself used to get rather grubby and impair the view. The extra hole in the front is courtesy of the woodpeckers - I suspect that they had blue tit chicks for breakfast earlier this year ... |
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Post by unclebob on Nov 10, 2020 11:33:36 GMT
We have mirror film on one of our windows and this little fellow was admiring him/her self 🙂  |
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Post by charliefarlie on Nov 10, 2020 16:56:01 GMT
Over the years my company replaced sever roofs that were destroyed by fire after squirrels chewed cables in lofts . The damage can be horrendous and life threatening to those living in the property’s ....l shoot any I see in our gardens.
I cannot stress enough the damage they can do.
Edited to add..
I absolutely abhor animal cruelty in and shap or form. I feel sick after shooting squirrels and would never take a shot unless I knew a clean quick result was to be had. I’m an experienced shooter who prefers targets...
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Post by Mb2t on Nov 10, 2020 17:23:19 GMT
Over the years my company replaced sever roofs that were destroyed by fire after squirrels chewed cables in lofts . The damage can be horrendous and life threatening to those living in the property’s ....l shoot any I see in our gardens. I cannot stress enough the damage they can do. Basically, a rat with public relations... |
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Post by charliefarlie on Nov 10, 2020 18:11:56 GMT
Living out in the sticks as you’d imagine provides us with an incredible amount and variation of birds. Wrens Tits Raptors Woodpeckers and so on. My favourites are the bats.. Not entirely sure if they’re classed as birds though.
When I re roofed I displaced a few bats but I put in bat entry’s into the roofs and boxes on the gable ends. The bats have taken well to the boxes . There are always wee droppings directly under the bat boxes. I love to watch them coming and going as the light fades in the evenings. They circle the gardens hunting on the wing at dusk. Fantastic 👍👍
This year we seem to be getting a lot of Red Kites. We’re just about as high as it’s possible to get looking right across the Teme Valley and the Kites soar above us hardly flapping a wing.
We actually have sparrow fledglings right now. Very late but I can only think it’s the mild weather that keeps the sparrows reproducing. I think if we had a severe cold snap it might kill them off.
We get though roughly 10 X 20 kilo sacks of feed a year and 4 boxes of 150 fat balls. The seed is a brand called Supavetz..... It’s excellent seed with a proper variety of seeds not just rubbish. I pay £11 a sack. The Fat balls are from B&M .. They do a box of 150 fat balls for £7;50 when on offer.
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