Attracting birds to your garden

August 12, 2017 Karen 24 comments

I have always enjoyed watching the birds in the garden. As a child my grandfather gave me a book about birds so that I could read and learn about those I saw.
When I moved into my own home after getting married, my dade me a wooden bird table with a roof we only put out stale bread really, but managed to attract a few passing birds.
I really became interested in feeding garden birds after I suffered a stroke which has left me disabled, I spend a lot of time sitting in an arm chair beside a window, which overlooks the back garden. Unfortunately the garden is too low for me to see the ground while sitting, so my clever husband made a bird table at the right height

 

This has been wonderful for me to see wood pigeons, starlings, sparrows, black birds and a robin who frequently visits to feed on the died fruit and seeds that we supply.
He has also hung feeders containing peanuts and sun flower hearts from the garage roof that I can look at.

The biggest success, however is a gift I received from an elderly relative of a fat ball holder, the starlings can’t get enough of this. I heard on Spring-watch that there are a shortage of home bred starlings, I think that I have them all on my feeder as I recently counted 15 young fledglings feeding at once.


When I was a child minder I helped the children to make bird cakes from seeds , nuts and suet mixed together with melted lard and packed into yogurt cartons, left to set and then we hung them from a tree near the playroom window. The children enjoyed monitoring which types of birds liked to feed from them, it was mostly blue tits.

We also have a plastic bird table on the lawn which has water available for the birds to drink or bath in, we let the water go green as this encourages insects giving the birds natural food as well.


My husband has fixed a nesting box for the birds where I can see it, we have witnessed the odd blue tit going inside to investigate but up to now nothing has nested in it which is a shame as he has rigged a camera inside so that I can see anything that develops. I will keep hoping!
If you would like to attract birds to feed in your garden place the food somewhere safe away from cats, also refrain from throwing food onto the floor as this may attract rats rather than birds.
HAPPY BIRD WATCHING!
As always questions/comments are welcome
Karen
x

24 Comments on “Attracting birds to your garden

  1. We love watching the birds in our garden, always feel so sad when the cats get hold of them, we try to keep cats at bay with a water pistol on the back step. Doesn’t harm the cats but they certainly don’t like getting wet. We always keep dried fruit as well as the usual different bird food from garden centres , they are waiting for us in the morning and wait for the blind to go up in our dining room. Lovely blog Karen .

  2. Great post and I love that you have seen so many starlings which have been attracted to the fat balls. Lovely to see so many birds coming into the garden.
    Mainy
    #mainylovessummer

  3. I love bird watching, we have two of those metal table tree things in our little patch of grass outside our flat, makes me so happy when I see all the different types of birds that have visited

  4. Wow this garden looks like a birds dream! Sadly we have tried a few different things but never manage to attract the birds, the neighbours at the back of us have 3 cats that sit on my fence which I think may be part of the problem! Thanks for linking up to #livelifelove linky I hope you manage to catch some little ones on your bird box camera!

  5. I LOVE watching the birds in my garden. We’ve had quite a range over the years, but my favourites have been the woodpeckers and a buzzard! Not your average garden bird… The problem I’m having now is a pair of squirrels that seem to be able to get at the nuts, seeds and fat balls no matter what I put them in! #pointshoot

  6. Wow, that is impressive, woodpeckers and a buzzard, I am guessing that you have a large garden in the country, I live on the dege of a village on a small housing estate, thanks for sharing x

  7. I love watching the birds come to the garden. We planted a few bird friendly trees, and slowly as they grow, more bird are nesting. We also put out regular food to attract more birds and it becomes a fun show when they all pitch up together to eat. #alittlebitofeverything

  8. oh I adore birds and love attacking them to our garden. My Grandfather had book too and my daughter loves it. We live in Australia and so I plant a lot of natives to encourage them to come feed. Your husband sounds very clever. Good luck with the nest! #fortheloveofBLOG

  9. Really loved your ideas of attracting birds. I love birds and stay in a place filled with trees. I enjoy watching different types of birds everyday. I think we need to grow more tall plants and attract more birds. Thanks for joining the Happy Sunday Link Party

  10. we joke that we have the local fat club in our garden as a few large pigeons always come and sit in the same spot on our fence to which our cat who never takes interest in anything other than sleep and food runs to the window (he is another large fellow too haha) #dreamteam

  11. Some fab ideas love watching the birds in my garden Thank you for linking to #ThatFridayLinky Please come back next week

  12. So many great ways – we have a few bird feeders and a bird table. Hubby really wants to get a bird bath too 🙂

  13. It’s lovely! I bet you are over the mol. With it. You have attracted some lovely species of bird by the sounds of it. I hope you manage to catch site of something really rare 🙂 #ForTheLoveOfBlog x

  14. That’s a great idea to make those bird cakes with kids! I’m going to have to do that now that we have a real yard and the baby is getting older. #bloggerclubuk

  15. You don’t have to have a garden to attract birds 🙂 I have a 6th floor balcony and we get a good selection of East London birds visiting. The trick is to put your feeder somewhere the small birds can get to without the pigeons getting it. I hang it on the balcony railing. There are some trees nearby and its great to see the birds zooming up and down to their roosts. I am going to try bird cakes again this autumn, they didn’t seem that impressed last time I made some! Visiting from #GoingGreenLinky

  16. It is lovely to know your feeding efforts are helping local bird populations. We struggle to find ways to feed the birds that the cats or dog cannot reach but living in a rural location means we do have plenty of food around in the hedges and woodlands. Thank you for adding this post to both #AnimalTales and #GoingGreenLinky

  17. Thanks for this informative post! I hopped over from #adventurecalling. We have been trying to turn our back yard into something of a bird haven lately, so this is very helpful. This summer, I had Juncos building two consecutive nests in the same hanging basket!

  18. One of my favourite things in the world is watching the birds in our garden. We live in a town, but have several species coming to visit our feeders and a couple of pairs of nesting sparrows. I love the bluetits, they have great personalities. These are fab tips! Thanks for sharing with us #AdventureCalling

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