Plea from RSPB....Feed the birds during snowy weather...please..!

[seasprout]

This is a link to the RSPB Website, it's a plea to put some food out for the Birds during this harsh weather.


The RSPB: Snow way birds could survive this weather without our help

[Two_Sheds]

Mine have got chopped bacon fat & soaked sultanas this morning, and the seed feeders are topped up too

[Capsid]

I've have seed out all the time but sadly the birds are staying away. I used to have flocks of greenfinch, goldfinch and all the tits but very few now. I blame a sparrowhawk.

[seasprout]

I've had 2 wood pigeons, 2 starlings and a sparrow.
Where are all the others i wonder.... hope they are ok..!

[Two_Sheds]

I notice the birds don't come out much to feed if the weather is really awful. They prefer to stay fluffed up in their roosts.

[Two_Sheds]

I used to have flocks of greenfinch, goldfinch and all the tits but very few now. I blame a sparrowhawk.

From the RSPB:
Some people are worried that sparrowhawks eat too many small birds and cause their population to fall or even become extinct. This is unlikely to happen - long-term scientific studies have shown that sparrowhawks have no impact on overall songbird populations.

A number of studies found that songbirds were no more common when sparrowhawks were absent than when they were numerous. The sparrowhawk population was decimated by pesticides entering the food chain in the 1960s and 70s and songbirds numbers remained the same in the hawks' absence.

It is also worth remembering that sparrowhawks and songbirds have existed side by side for thousands of years without any detrimental effect occurring on the populations of the songbirds.
The RSPB: Sparrowhawk: A top predator

[tamsin]

We've had loads this morning Pair of blackbirds, 3/4 blue tits, a coal tit (first I've seen), a robin and some starlings. They keep coming back and forth.

[snuffer]

We feed the birds all year round here. The last few days, as well as all the usual suspects, we've had; mistle thrushes, fieldfare, read buntings and redwings.

[Tam]

We have large numbers of birds who come to feed from the garden. We have a four nut feeders and at this time of year we go through loads of lard (28p a packet from Tescos or Aldi) and we buy 4 kilo sacks of Tesco's cheap dog food and soak this for the softbills - I don't think I'd give it to a dog, but I have taken advice and it is ideal for birds. The lard we anchor in crooks of trees.

[Sanjo]

We always have food out as husband is an avid bird feeder. They have home made fat balls containing birdseed and sultanas as well as the bread and fat. When it first snowed really heavily we were surprised at the versatility of the blackbirds. Normally groundfeeders, because of the snow, they couldn't find the food so took to doing what our robins do and were hovering like hummingbirds in front of the feeders. In the end OH took pity on them and went down and cleared a section of the garden path and put out loads of seed. In about 20 minutes the snow had covered it again, so out into the blizzard he went again. This time he took a small garden table to act as a roof and put seed underneath it. It's worked really well and we have loads of birds noshing on our goodies. I have also stuffed hay into the empty nest boxes/pouches. A sparrow was investigating one for some time on Tuesday but after hopping in and out of it for quite a while he obviously decided it wasn't up to scratch.!!

[smallblueplanet]

I've have seed out all the time but sadly the birds are staying away. I used to have flocks of greenfinch, goldfinch and all the tits but very few now. I blame a sparrowhawk.

We have lots of the above round here and we also have a sparrowhawk. How many sparrows etc do you think it eats?!

Oh we also have a kestrel and buzzards...

[Eyren]

The sparrowhawks and kestrels probably don't eat many sparrows, but they might make them a bit more wary about approaching an exposed bird feeder

I used to feed the birds regularly, but since we got the chickens they seem to come into our garden a lot less - I wonder if they see it as the chickens' territory? Plus I've been loath to put out feeders in the back garden since we had rats (no sign of them since Christmas, thankfully!).

I will hang something up in the front garden, though, and see if they go for that...

[seasprout]

Just seen my 1st ever fieldfare in the garden, i even checked in my book to make sure.

It had been eating neighbours fallen rotting apples under his tree, then flew into my plum tree.

[shirlthegirl43]

I have put bird seed on my dad's office windowledge today (been meaning to buy some for a while). The birds are hugely entertaining. I wish I had brought my camera - some of them admire their reflections (or maybe they are watching me) while they eat. The little blue-tits grab a seed then fly up to the beech tree to eat then back for another. The robins spend more time fighting than getting seed. All very amusing.

[Capsid]

I have seen the sparrowhawk take a blue tit from the feeder on more than one occasion but it's good to hear that it is unlikely that it is the culprit (thanks for info Two Sheds).