There's a Brown Bird in the Ring......

Tra la la la la......

Not much of the suet ring left now and most of the birds that come into our garden have made the most of it!

It's only taken a week for all the suet to just about disappear & I don't think the squirrel is to blame this time - I think the birds actually got chance to eat it all for themselves!

It wasn't me!

I also bought another new feeder for the Sunflower Seeds, hopefully this one is a bit more squirrel proof than the last one.
It didn't take long for the birds to get accustomed to it!

DIY (bird food style)!

Woke up this morning to about another inch of snow, so much for our plans to go the nearest store to stock up on bird seed! The roads would be a no go!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not lazy and I don't mind walking but the thought of lugging back kilogram bags of peanuts & seed for about 3 miles in freezing cold just doesn't appeal to me so what do we do?

Well, we do what the Brits are best at........ we have to make the best of a bad job (and moan whilst doing it!)

So, after about an hour spent raiding the cupboards, chopping ingredients, melting fat...the kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it!
At least our efforts weren't in vain though and:-

• The peanut feeder was promptly filled with chopped chestnuts left over from Christmas which the Great Tits enjoyed.
• The stale bread was soaked in water and mixed with raisins, peanut butter and a bit of seed.
• The fat was melted down into a bowl and mixed with the last of the seed, raisins & chopped apple and put in the fridge to set.
• Mince pies were chopped up along with more apple.
• Another apple was peeled and cored and stuck on top of the feeder pole just to see if anything would try it!
  

Hmmmm, tasty!

I'm not sure if all of the food put out was good for them but it was better than nothing and birds aren't stupid, if something is bad then they just won't eat it!

We threw everything outside and didn't have to wait long... the Robin was straight down to investigate and promptly chased any Chaffinches & Dunnocks that appeared!
We seem to be inundated with Blackbirds at the moment who of course love the raisins and apple.

Blue Tit looking curiously at the apple!

Great Tit munching on chestnuts

My other half had the brilliant idea of moving the big plant containers further along the garden, this not only left a clear patch of gravel for food to be laid on but also exposed loads of woodlice and grubs for the Robin to feast on. And, true to form, he appeared less than 10 seconds later!

We also put out a few whole chestnuts after we spotted the grey squirrel lurking in the background.

So, all in all I think the birds actually ate better than we did today, wonder what else we can chop up tomorrow........

Holidays

I hope everyone has had a nice Christmas - we certainly did. We had my in-laws over to stay with us so I haven't really had the chance to observe the garden birds as much as usual - I had an extra pair of eyes watching.......

.....in the shape of our German Shepherd, Kira!

We haven't seen Kira (or the in-laws) for about 2 1/2 years so it was really nice to catch up.

Anyway, back to the garden birds....... judging by how often I'm refilling the feeders, I assume the usual suspects are still visiting!
I did see a solitary Goldfinch loitering in the background yesterday, so I'm hoping it will return soon to feed!

I've also spotted this little fella helping himself (or herself) to the peanuts.

I'm throwing down a few handfuls every day to deter it from climbing onto the nut feeder (hopefully!)
I'm not really a huge fan of grey squirrels but I have to admit they have got a cuteness about them! I would still prefer to see our native red squirrels though.

It makes a change to see the garden again in daylight as usually its dark when I leave for work & dark when I get home..... I can't wait for lighter evenings to return!