As we all know, its going to be exceptionally cold this week with northeasterly winds from Siberia making it feel as low as -10 (according to the Met Office). Lots of our little garden birds will perish in this cold, not only due the the low temps but also frozen ground limiting their ability to feed and find water.
Putting out feeders with seeds and fats balls and keeping them topped up really makes a difference between life and death during these times.
A starling has been coming to my window feeder the last two days, feeding frantically and then appearing to fall asleep in it! All the birds are puffed up twice their size to try and keep warm.
Here is a good source of quality bird food - though birds aren’t fussy
(pic of very friendly robin feeding from my hand below)
Does anyone have an recommendations for (reasonably) squirrel-proof feeders? The birds never got so much as a peck at the food in my last feeder. Are fat balls less attractive to squirrels?
Unfortunately squirrels love fat balls and two of our local ones took a liking to mine recently. They were quite tasty and the birds now have their bird feeders back.
We have a family of squirrels living in one of the trees next door and had a ‘parrot cage’ style feeder made by Nuttery that seemed to do the job - sturdy, well made and with such a small amount of clearence between the lid and the holding loop, was difficult enough for me to get into - even with with my opposable thumbs - let alone a squirrel.
Not the cheapest option out there, but it spent many years hanging on my apple tree in all weather without any sign of wear&tear - only took it down in the end when when our cats got old enough to climb trees, at which point it seemed more likely to be feeding them than the birds.
Good to know - I wanted one that I could hang in my pear tree. The ‘parrot’ style are out of stock at the moment but have ordered one of these to arrive this evening. Will fill it and get it hung out tomorrow morning.
For those with a feeders hanging off a central pole, I use something like this which stops the squirrels climbing up. You do however need to make sure they can’t jump from fences or trees on either site of the feeding station.
Birds love fat balls & are fine in good squirrel proof feeders! We hung a fat ball in a tree once & our daughter saw a squirrel bite the string & carry it off whole in its mouth
The Nuttery bird feeders work well and have survived all seasons in my garden. The squirrels and parakeets try occasionally but don’t have much luck!
The plastic parts become brittle over time but still pretty sturdy.
