Big Garden Bird Watch
This weekend is the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch! I missed it last year so I'm extra excited to play. It's easy - all you have to do is watch your garden for an hour either Saturday or Sunday and note how many of any given species of bird you see at one time. You don't get to count Mr. Robin each time he duck into the hedge and pops out again, but if Mr Robin is chasing off Other Mr Robin while Master Robin sneaks in to get some food you count 3 robins.
In anticipation of bird watching, I bought the good (which is to say apparently incredibly tasty but also expensive) suet balls. We used to put them out all the time but by the end of summer we were going through a 4 pack a day, plus sultanas, meal worms, and peanuts! I love having a garden full of tits, finches, robins, black birds, and the occasional duck family, but we couldn't afford £20/week to feed the birds! So we bought a huge tub of a cheaper brand of suet balls, and put those out instead.
To say that the birdies were less than thrilled would be an understatement. The suet balls now rot in the feeder, barely touched. When there was snow on the ground, the pidgeons would deign to peck at the suet balls I tossed on the ground, but now that it's all melted not even they will eat them. We used to go through 4 suet balls a day (an upper limit only because we wouldn't refill the feeder more than once a day). I bought the tub-o-cheap suet balls (possibly 40 balls?) 6 months ago and it's still over half full.
We got the cheap suet balls around the same time we got the kittens which is why my attention has been elsewhere this last half-year. We tried to remember to put out sultanas and periodically dump and refill the peanut feeder, and put out a dish with whatever else we bought - seed mix, meal worms, suet pellets - but until, um, today actually, the kittens freaked out whenever we opened the patio door and ran to hide. Today they both watched from a safe distance, to see if the birdies would come.
But today I put out the expensive suet. They didn't have insect suet balls so I bought two four packs of fruit suet balls, dumped and scrubbed the feeder, and filled it up. They had insect suet squares so I bought one of those and a square feeder to put it in. I need to give the sultana dish a good scrubbing but didn't notice till after I put more out, so I'll do that tomorrow. I'll probably also dump and refill the peanut feeder and set out a dish of bird seed. I didn't have room for a tub of meal worms but I may go back for those tomorrow. I know, if I really want an impressive bird count, I should've started putting out the expensive food a few weeks ago, but better late than never.
Last week a family of long-tail tits came through the garden. It's the first time I've seen any of them and I was very excited. With any luck they're still nearby and will come back. Have I mentioned how much I love all these cute little birds?
In anticipation of bird watching, I bought the good (which is to say apparently incredibly tasty but also expensive) suet balls. We used to put them out all the time but by the end of summer we were going through a 4 pack a day, plus sultanas, meal worms, and peanuts! I love having a garden full of tits, finches, robins, black birds, and the occasional duck family, but we couldn't afford £20/week to feed the birds! So we bought a huge tub of a cheaper brand of suet balls, and put those out instead.
To say that the birdies were less than thrilled would be an understatement. The suet balls now rot in the feeder, barely touched. When there was snow on the ground, the pidgeons would deign to peck at the suet balls I tossed on the ground, but now that it's all melted not even they will eat them. We used to go through 4 suet balls a day (an upper limit only because we wouldn't refill the feeder more than once a day). I bought the tub-o-cheap suet balls (possibly 40 balls?) 6 months ago and it's still over half full.
We got the cheap suet balls around the same time we got the kittens which is why my attention has been elsewhere this last half-year. We tried to remember to put out sultanas and periodically dump and refill the peanut feeder, and put out a dish with whatever else we bought - seed mix, meal worms, suet pellets - but until, um, today actually, the kittens freaked out whenever we opened the patio door and ran to hide. Today they both watched from a safe distance, to see if the birdies would come.
But today I put out the expensive suet. They didn't have insect suet balls so I bought two four packs of fruit suet balls, dumped and scrubbed the feeder, and filled it up. They had insect suet squares so I bought one of those and a square feeder to put it in. I need to give the sultana dish a good scrubbing but didn't notice till after I put more out, so I'll do that tomorrow. I'll probably also dump and refill the peanut feeder and set out a dish of bird seed. I didn't have room for a tub of meal worms but I may go back for those tomorrow. I know, if I really want an impressive bird count, I should've started putting out the expensive food a few weeks ago, but better late than never.
Last week a family of long-tail tits came through the garden. It's the first time I've seen any of them and I was very excited. With any luck they're still nearby and will come back. Have I mentioned how much I love all these cute little birds?