Family of Sparrows
Jan. 8th, 2023 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anefLast winter I started putting out fat balls for the birds. Our front garden has tall hedges and is sheltered by these on two sides and by the house on the third. There is a tall bush (winter honeysuckle?) in one corner beside the road and a buddleia in the other.
I got a squirrel-proof bird feeder and put it on the ground between the two bushes. This was popular with the birds but also with slugs, so after a while I put it on a pile of stones. Then I noticed that the pigeons were eating rather a lot of the fat balls, so I only put one out at a time, which seemed to reduce pigeon enthusiasm. Then I saw one of the neighbourhood cats sitting before it in a meditative pose. I moved the feeder to the top of one of the recycling bins, which seems to have discouraged the cats and the pigeons, but also makes it easier to watch the small birds from our front windows. The only downside is that they do leave quite a bit of mess on top of the bin, with discarded seed cases and tiny crumbs of fat. Oh well.
This winter I added a peanut holder, but it isn't squirrel-proof, and I was hanging it from the buddleia until I realised that the squirrels could shin up the branches and have a feast. It's now hanging precariously from a slender twig of the honeysuckle. So far I haven't seen a squirrrel on it.
Our main visitors are a family of sparrows. There are at least five, two adults and three juveniles who were babies last year. Less frequently I see a male robin, and it is possible that there is a female in amongst the flock of small brown birds but I haven't managed to distinguish her yet. There are a pair of blackcaps, the male with a black hat on top of his head and the female with an elegant russet one. I also see the occasional bluetit, and today I saw a long-tailed tit. There are blackbirds sometimes but the main visitors are the smaller ones, which is just fine.
I got a squirrel-proof bird feeder and put it on the ground between the two bushes. This was popular with the birds but also with slugs, so after a while I put it on a pile of stones. Then I noticed that the pigeons were eating rather a lot of the fat balls, so I only put one out at a time, which seemed to reduce pigeon enthusiasm. Then I saw one of the neighbourhood cats sitting before it in a meditative pose. I moved the feeder to the top of one of the recycling bins, which seems to have discouraged the cats and the pigeons, but also makes it easier to watch the small birds from our front windows. The only downside is that they do leave quite a bit of mess on top of the bin, with discarded seed cases and tiny crumbs of fat. Oh well.
This winter I added a peanut holder, but it isn't squirrel-proof, and I was hanging it from the buddleia until I realised that the squirrels could shin up the branches and have a feast. It's now hanging precariously from a slender twig of the honeysuckle. So far I haven't seen a squirrrel on it.
Our main visitors are a family of sparrows. There are at least five, two adults and three juveniles who were babies last year. Less frequently I see a male robin, and it is possible that there is a female in amongst the flock of small brown birds but I haven't managed to distinguish her yet. There are a pair of blackcaps, the male with a black hat on top of his head and the female with an elegant russet one. I also see the occasional bluetit, and today I saw a long-tailed tit. There are blackbirds sometimes but the main visitors are the smaller ones, which is just fine.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-09 11:00 pm (UTC)Also, you don't often see more than one robin in the same area as they're territorial.
The RSPB's got some nice concise info: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/robin/territory/
I envy you the blackcaps: I don't think I've ever seen any.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-10 08:18 am (UTC)If you don't look at them closely the blackcaps just look like slightly odd sparrows, so I must have seen them for a while without realising.