Home made fat balls

[Two_Sheds]

I know it should be a generic "flock"

Aaah, a collective noun then. A murmuration of starlings is suggested, but that seems too quiet for them ~ what about a hooligan of starlings?

[rustylady]

Did a google search, and a scourge of starlings is also suggested.

[mothhawk]

The RSPB say that you should never use vegetable fat for birds:

Didn't know that TS - I'll switch back to animal lard then - thanks

[mothhawk]

I know it should be a generic "flock" but the way they descend on the garden, chattering away to each other at full volume, and generally getting in the way of the regulars seems to deserve a much better term, my calling them a 'swarm' seems a bit harsh.

We call ours a scintillation of long-tails

[endymion]

A murmuration seems far too quiet for starlings.

A scintillation sounds nice, but we've thought about a rabble of Long Tailed Tits.

Oh, and vaguely back on topic, we've never used veg suet for fat balls. Well, not since we tried it and the results were ignored by the birds. Maybe they've got more sense than we credit them with? Suet's better than lard, it's a more reliable set.

[catbasket]

Didn't know that TS - I'll switch back to animal lard then - thanks

Beef dripping is better than lard as it has a higher melting point - not so messy in warmer temperatures.