Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

And what do you get on the feeders? I get fewer species these days, long time since ive seen Goldfinch or Siskin on mine, and the Greenfinches disappeared when everyone nearby chopped down their Leylandi.

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

No too many cats here we found we were feeding the cats with birds by putting out food

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

Wish we had a feeder here - not allowed
We have a lot of magpies and a fella down the road has a pigeon loft, so we see them a lot ........

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

Yes I have always fed the wild birds, not just in winter. They seem extra hungry in the breeding season too.
I always have robins, sometimes 2 at a time, which surprised me as I always thought they were territorial little birds. I have wood pigeons, collared doves, magpies, dunnocks and coal tits mostly, but occasionally somebody else stops by. One problem is, the blasted squirrels keep helping themselves to the food too.
I sometimes mix extra bits into the feed, like shredded suet, unsweetened coconut shreds, currants or dried mealworms to give them a bit more variety.

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

I used to, but my mighty hunting cat (Missy) was depositing bodies on the patio too frequently for my liking, so stopped. Really miss doing it though. Only bonus is we seem to have more red kites about (and even Missy won't take them on).

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

Yes cats are a problem when birds congregate at feeders, as are Sparrowhawks, always pays to have a bit of cover nearby for them to dive into.

Perfect foods for the birds Mups, not supervised you get a good range of species,leaving some dog hair and wool out during Spring means they have access to a nice supply of nesting materials.

A Red Kite is a canny garden species, when they did the release program up here, a local Pub increased its trade by putting out the remains of the joints, you could sit in the Beer garden and get close views of them.

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

Yes,we put out fatballs, on the bird table. We don"t get a great variety here.
Have noticed they haven't been feeding so much the last few weeks , suppose there was enough food in the fields for them . They are a lovely sight though.

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

Yes in the winter though I have seen rats around my neighbours bird table so I don't feed the birds in my garden I put food down the track to the field.

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

We feed the birds all year round, have a robin, dunnocks, collared doves, wood pigeons. sparrows and the dreaded sparrowhawk, too! As my husband tells me, they have to eat, nature and all that.
We have a large pyracantha that they can hide in if they're nippy..

Re: Do you feed the birds in Winter ?

I may be wrong Jennifer but I read somewhere it is best not to feed birds when they are rearing young because of choking the babies with bread and nuts ..