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Feeder to encourage small birds to garden

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  • 12-01-2022 12:46pm
    #1
    whodafunk
    Registered Users Posts: 552 ✭✭✭


    Hi all,

    The small birds have disappeared from my garden in recent years. I'd like to encourage them back. I have not had much success with peanut feeder. Any suggestions? Sunflower hearts? I'd like to avoid any extras sprouting up in the grass if possible.


    Would appreciate any advice. Thank you.



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    #2
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,068 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    The two best foods you can put out are sunflower hearts and peanuts. Sunflower hearts may cause some pop-ups, but if you don't overfill it then in all likelihood the birds will eat it all.


    Make sure your feeders are close to cover - trees, shrubs, hedges etc. A mistake people often make is putting feeders in the middle of the lawn, where small birds feel unsafe!



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    #3
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,067 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    fat balls are good too



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    #4
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    I started feeding the birds a year or two ago after getting interested in gardening and started with a regular bag of mixed seed in a basic hanging seed feeder. That one bag of seed started an obsession because it had pictures of common garden birds on the back which I cut out and kept hoping to spot all of them.

    After a bit of research I picked up other types of seed like nyjer for attracting finches and peanut feeder and sunflower feeder along with the energy balls. I have a mix of finches (chaffinch and goldfinches), tits (great and blue), sparrows and dunnocks, starlings, robins and wrens. The bluetit loves peanuts and will dive bomb for them all day long. The sparrows love the mix and the sunflower is a good all rounder. The starlings are mad for the energy balls and anything that falls to the floor is cleaned up by woodpigeons, collard doves, blackbird, thrush, (they prefer to feed on insects though) and jackdaws. I used to buy dried mealworms, the robin loves them but they're a bit expensive and don't last very long. All these are hanging from a tree with a water source close by. I have a bird table too but it mostly serves the bigger birds, crows and jackdaws.

    Should probably add that I've a fair bit of greenery, hedgerows and canopys that the birds use to live in and take cover under. It's going to be vital to sustaining them if you want to invite them into your garden more permanently. I've also placed a few bird boxes around those areas to encourage nesting so hopefully it will be an added interest to watch for this year in the garden.

    (I'm still learning and just bought a book to help me identify and learn more)



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