Bird watching from my armchair
Feeding the birds is such an easy thing to do and always yields such great results whether you’re an avid bird watcher or just like to see some good ole fashioned wildlife in your garden. With winter fast-approaching birds will be looking to stock up on food, which makes now an ideal time to get the best results.
Most people start off with throwing out some bread and go from there but what is ‘go from there’? Walk into a garden centre that caters for wild birds and you may be taken back by the sheer range of products available and have no idea where to start.
This is where I’d like to try and help.
There’s an excellent range at Earlswood from the novice to the experienced feeder. As with everything it’s best to start off small and you can’t really go wrong with a standard feeder and seed.
Costs:
Gardman Flip Top Seed Feeder: £2.99
Gardman Seed Mix 2kg Bag: £2.99
The next step is to think where are you going to be placing the feeder. If you want to hang the feeder on a wall or fence then a bracket would be your best bet as it allows the feeder to stick away from the wall or fence. If you have an open area then a feeding station would be perfect as they have several hooks for feeders and birdbaths. However if you live in a flat you don’t need to feel discouraged as there are specifically designed feeders that use suction cups to stick onto the window.
Costs:
Gardman Heavy Duty Feeder Bracket: £3.99
Gardman Feeding Stations: From £12.99
Gardman Window Box Feeder: £4.99
Now you’re all set up and running the next thing is to sit back and see what birds you get, but what if you want a certain bird or just want to see more variety? Different birds like different feed and even different type of feeders.
Example:
House Sparrows prefer either Seed Mixes or Sunflower Seed on a Ground Table Feeder where a Green Finch prefers either Seed Mixes or Sunflower Seed in a Feeder.
A full a comprehensive list of birds and their preferred feed and feeders can be found over at Gardman Wild Bird Care, they also have great information on storing feed, positioning feeders to get the best results and much more.
Once you know what birds frequent your garden you may want to look at buying a bird table, house, bath or a nest for them. If you want to see what’s going on in there you can buy a Camera Nest Box which gives you full colour video with sound and when it goes dark the camera’s automatically switch to infrared mode so you can continue to see what’s happening.
Hopefully I’ve shed some light on entering the world of bird feeding/watching and your garden will soon be a wild bird paradise. If this has been of some help why not take a picture and send it in to us to sales@earlswoodglc.co.uk
