Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 458
We have just completed our 1 hour birdwatch and thought we would share the results - 1 gull, 1 jay, 2 magpies, 12 sparrows, 2 great tits, 2 blue tits, 1 robin, 2 blackbirds, 1 thrush, 1 wren, 3 dunnocks, 2 collared doves, 1 chaffinch,1 starling, 1 woodpidgion, and 1 longtailed tit, not bad for an hours work!
Judith Roberts- Registered: 15 May 2012
- Posts: 633
Was this in your back garden Phil?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I didn't do the full hour but looked out now and then and haven't seen one bird all day.
Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 458
Judith, yes, all the birds seen were atthe feeding station in our back garden, which runs up hill onto the western hights. Did I mention that the Jay took 29 peanuts in one visit?
Howard, how long have you been feeding the birds? One reason for our success is down to haveing been feeding the little blighters for 20 or more years, the feeders are close to cover, we have a water supply and bird boxes, we also feed them all year round. Like any restaurant it takes time to build up trade!
We also rent our home from our cat, Sir Oliver Four - Paws, but being a well mannered gentlecat he leaves the birds alone!
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,655
I saw a few but the many sparrows that live in a hedge a couple of doors away deserted my front garden feeders about a month ago while the magpies, starlings and collared doves are still faithful.
BTW we have been feeding the birds both front and back since we moved here over 10 years ago. Phil I would swap all my regulars for your long tailed tit which is my favourite bird.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I have only been feeding birds for about a year and a half, started when a tree around the back of me spread rather nicely onto my side and had branches high enough to stop a cat, strong enough to take the feeders but too fragile to take a cats weight.
Got some new stuff out of Poundland yesterday, basically a slab of fat that is fruit flavoured, no takers yet. My regulars are the same as Jans with the addition of a pair of wood pigeons.
Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,205
I know we all like as much variety on our feeders but i hope it means that there aren't too many birds going without in the area.
Arte et Marte
Guest 767- Registered: 30 Aug 2012
- Posts: 458
We all like to think of the birds that use our feeders as 'ours' but in truth we all share them, they will eat at my feeders and move on to another garden, then another and another and so on, then back to us. By doing this they ensure that at least one feeding station is open to them. Where I am a lot of gardens have well stocked feeders, with a wide range of food stuff, this means that there is plenty of choice and stock avalable to them. It is inportant that when you start feeding that you carry on, even if visitor numbers are low to start with. Poundland do very good wild bird food with a choice of seed mixes, sunflower seeds and hearts, fatballs, fat blocks etc a bargain at £1 a go, at a guess I spend about £5 a week keeping the little chaps fed!
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,655
I normally see the pied wagtails hoping around the drive and streets in the area but I have not seen one this year. We can stick almost any kind of feed in the back garden as it is more open and faces towards Connaught and had to get an anti-squirrel feeder so they did not pinch all the bird food.
There are times when I dread seeing the Squirrels as I spend far to much time just watching them. :)
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
2 wood pigeons, 3 collard doves, 1 robin, 1 magpie, 1 blue tit.
Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,205
Arte et Marte
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
30 seagulls,4 magpies and 2 rooks/crows.
Guest 977- Registered: 27 Jun 2013
- Posts: 1,031
15 house sparrows, 9 jackdaws, 5 starlings, 2 each of wood pigeon, collared dove, magpie, blackbird, blue tit, a robin and a dunnock.
This chap turned up two days late, just as sparrowhawk that was flying overhead.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Judging by the feeder levels I must have had a few visitors today, only saw a few sparrows and a robin myself.
They don't seem to have taken to the new food yet.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,655
Maybe they do not like the colour.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
Howard is that the fruit one? Our local birds don't think much of them either, they prefer the ones with meal worms in!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
That's right Jeane, a slab of fat that has a citrus smell that birds are supposed to drool over.
I tasted it and can give it 0 out of 10.
Guest 1103- Registered: 3 Nov 2013
- Posts: 759
did you all know we have Kingfishers in the Marina and by the Dour?
I was most impressed. taking a tour this sunday and hope to catch some on my lense ... gotta be fast :D
Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Maya Angelou ☺🌈🌄🌌🌏🌍🌎
Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,205
Buckets of 50 fatballs £4.99 & packs 6 for 49p but smaller in poundstretcher today.
Arte et Marte
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
That revolting looking stuff pictured in post 14 had its first diner today, a robin who turns up most days but has avoided it until now.