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Forum List General Discussion Easy Places to See Birds
Jeanie A
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Your Garden - 2006/05/08 17:34 The easiest place to see birds must be your garden, if you have one. We are trying to make ours as bird friendly as possible. Pond, log pile and rough area. However we have two cats so there are limitations to what we can do.

The feeders are on poles. The birdtable was the tallest one we could buy.

Our local garden center gave me a list of bird friendly plants. This year we have planted Japanese Quince. We already have pyracanthas and cotoneaster.

I hung a feeder of Niger seed to encourage Goldfinch. We had not seen any for several years. After a week of no sightings, I moved the feeder close to some bushes since a bird mag. stated that Dunnocks will also take this seed if close to a hedge.

That evening, looking out of the patio window I saw two goldfinch land on the tree from which I had moved the feeder. They flew away and I replaced the feeder.

Needless to say there has been no sight of them since.

What do you do to encourage birds into your gardens? I have learnt my birdwatching in India where we have been visiting in the winter time for the last 10 years. For the last 3 years we have done some quite intensive birding but are still quite hopeless on many species.
We enjoy this hobby very much but could not be described as 'Keen' or experienced.
'interested' and moderate is probably the best description of our skills.
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dorothy
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Re:Your Garden - 2006/05/29 00:17 We live next to a wood and we get quite a lot of birds in our garden. We have only lived here 2 years and I am noticing more and more species all the time. Recently we have had Great spotted woodpeckers, Bullfiches and song thrush as well as a daily visit from 2 woodpigeons and a Robin and many more. Nearby I see lots of kestrels and just by the canal I saw a kingfisher.

We get squirrels in the garden eating the birdfood, I had one of those uplighter floor lights though and when it broke I put it outside and filled the shade with bird food, the birds can get it, the squirrels can't climb up the pole!
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Dabchick
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Re:Your Garden - 2006/06/06 19:39 We've been getting a lot of birds recently since we put up a feeding post, complete with 2 peanut feeders, a seed feeder and a small bird bath. We often get the occasional dunnock feeding at its base, but also blackbirds, starlings, coal tits, blue tits, great tits and if we are lucky a wren sometimes pops along. 2 years ago we have a sparrowhawk. The problem is is that a small number of feral pigeons and a particularly weighty woodpigeon (who can clear an entirely covered bird table in an afternoon) come along and eat everything we put out.
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Dabchick
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Re:Your Garden - 2006/06/06 19:40 We've been getting a lot of birds recently since we put up a feeding post, complete with 2 peanut feeders, a seed feeder and a small bird bath. We often get the occasional dunnock feeding at its base, but also blackbirds, starlings, coal tits, blue tits, great tits and if we are lucky a wren sometimes pops along. 2 years ago we had a sparrowhawk. The problem is is that a small number of feral pigeons and a particularly weighty woodpigeon (who can clear an entirely covered bird table in an afternoon) come along and eat everything we put out.
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Jeanie A
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Re:Your Garden - 2006/06/06 20:24 Hi dabchick,
We too have lots of wood pigeons. We had some strong plastic netting in our store room. The sort that can stand up. We had bought it to cover the pond. I have folded this over one of my bird tables.It makes a sort of a cage. The squares are about 2" so the small birds can get through but not the hugh ones. I have a separate table for the bigger ones and mix seeds with food scraps for this one.
Regards
Jeanie I have learnt my birdwatching in India where we have been visiting in the winter time for the last 10 years. For the last 3 years we have done some quite intensive birding but are still quite hopeless on many species.
We enjoy this hobby very much but could not be described as 'Keen' or experienced.
'interested' and moderate is probably the best description of our skills.
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Ards Birds
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Re:Your Garden - 2007/09/02 03:42 If you can bear to do so, leave a few clumps of thistle (Cirsium species), to attract mainly goldfinches, linnets and the like - if left to set seed. You are always welcome, at http://www.ardsbirds.110mb.com - Ards Birds
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Forum List General Discussion Easy Places to See Birds
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