In deepest West Sussex
Date: 2014-09-22 11:15:39 | Category:
Bird Feeding | Author: David Cole
It is a good idea to vary the types and mixes of food that you present on your bird tables.
For nearly twenty years we have not seen a single starling near our house, and given the ‘commoness' of this gregarious and noisy family in the country this was much commented upon.
Last month we decided to try the Fruity Suet Pellets out and we were awoken at 5.30am [!!!] by a cacophony of noise from the southern bird table – we counted nearly thirty starlings from juveniles to glossy plumed adults. Many people do not encourage starlings to their gardens, but they are missing a real treat – the birds have distinct characters and degrees of assertiveness which soon lets you identify individuals.
The juveniles are easy to spot having not developed the yellow beak and the iridescence plumage of the adults.
After about half-an-hour they left en masse but they returned the next day, and probably by coincidence every day that the feeders contained the suet pellets. We know that birds can see well in colour and in the UV range – perhaps the brighter colour of the fruity pellets attracted them from afar.
The suet pellets are also firm favourites with the blue tits and the great spotted woodpeckers who have had a really good breeding season – three families frequent our bird tables - each having raised a family of three youngsters.
Peanuts are of course a firm favourite and we tend to have at least one ‘seed mix’ available – with a dish of fresh water – we are going to try some of the fat feast variety packs later this month.
It is also important to keep all of your feeders clean – a kettle of boiling water over the wire meshes works wonders.