Blogs

I have some out of date almonds, cashews, pine kernels and sesame seeds, and also some unsalted peanut butter (pure peanut only). Can I crush and give any of these to the birds visiting my garden who are costing me a fortune in commercial feed? Also, any ideas how to stop pheatsants (up to 12 at a...

Dear all, A gentle - but important - reminder not to put out the fat from your roasting tins as food for birds. The reasons why are discussed here ATB, DOM

ratty Are some birds able to cope better than others without liquid water? All of our garden birds need to drink every day and bathing is also very important, they have to keep their feathers in tip-top condition in order for them to be effective at keping the birds warm and dry. Wozatmz, i don't...

Last Christmas we were given one of the RSPB Window Bird Feeders which is a great idea and we want to use it successfuly but no birds will come to it. Last year, after trying different food types, I eventually ended up taking the food out of it and putting it on the bird table where it vanished in a...

Heya I live in Chippenham and used to have loads of blackbirds visiting our garden, but we haven't seen any since around Spring, and even then we didn't see many young as we usually do. Is there anyway we can attract them again? We get some other birds like long tailed tits, blue tits, crows...

Dear Everyone, Thank you so much for all your replies. Wow ! So nice to now there are so many ordinary bird lovers. I perhaps need to explain the situation here a little better. When I say I have too many starlings, there are 3 separate flocks at the moment (there was only 2 when I first wrote for...

thats good to hear. Is bread OK or not? On the radio recently they said we shouldnt use it?

Hi - can I feed the birds in my garden all year round? Im gearing up to start again now but have not fed my birds over the Summer. I read somewhere that all year round feeding is the right thing to do and now feel bad that I stopped in March....

Hi - can I feed the birds in my garden all year round? Im gearing up to start again now but have not fed my birds over the Summer. I read somewhere that all year round feeding is the right thing to do and now feel bad that I stopped in March....

We humans are constantly bombarded with messages that Fat Is Bad. It's less lard, more olive oil these days. And rightly so, much of the time. Now that many of us live rather sedentary lives, sitting around in heated offices and houses, fat isn't as important for us as it once was. For birds...

Hi! How did you get on with Big Garden Birdwatch ? Hope you had time to sit down for an hour, grab a cuppa, a bacon butty, a few biscuits or maybe a slice of cake, depending on the time of day... Here are my results: Chaffinch , 8 Jackdaw , 5 Blackbird , 3 Dunnock , 3 Great tit , 3 Starling , 3 Blue...

It’s a big weekend this one. Whilst I may be heading to London on Saturday, hoping for some magic in the cup, you might be looking out of your window, hoping for some magic on your bird table. It’s F.A. Cup fourth round weekend, but I’m sure there is something even bigger going on this...

As you may have read, this year sees the 30th Big Garden Birdwatch . To mark this special anniversary, I'm already putting together a cunning plan for my best Birdwatch ever... Strictly speaking, you don't need to do any special preparation for Big Garden Birdwatch. It's fine not to put out...

This week, you've got to keep your eyes and ears open. Be alert at all times, wherever you are - especially if you're out shopping. Waxwings are here! Whatwings? Waxwings . They breed in Scandinavia, snapping up mosquitos in the northern forests, but in winter it's berries they crave ...

So our brief summer has been and gone (yes, sorry guys, that was it) and it's edging ever closer to that dreaded page in your diary that says 'British Summer Time Ends'. Great! But it's not all doom and gloo m... Autumn is without a doubt my favourite time of year. Along with the change...

As I look out of the office window, there's a constant stream of birds, especially coal tits , visiting the webcam bird feeder here at The Lodge . Where have they come from and what are they doing? It's been noticeable for the past two weeks. Are the birds migrants, newly-arrived here and...

In the past few weeks, as summer has finally got into its stride, I've had reason to visit various beer gardens. After a 'hard' day in the office, what's nicer than a beer garden with a glass of your favourite beverage and some good company? It just happens that beer gardens can be great...

Over the weekend, I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who sat down for an hour, grabbed a cup of tea and a biscuit, and watched the birds in my garden . Were you? My bird-feeding strategy paid off reasonably well. Here's what I saw on Saturday morning: Greenfinches : 12 at...