Solar fountains for bird-baths

I bought one last year on a whim. It wasn't expensive so I didn't mind if it wasn't great. I was pleasantly surprised with the effect but it got easily blocked with gunge and needed regular cleaning. It stopped working recently and nothing would persuade it to start up again. I suspect a heavily footed pigeon!

I bought one recently and put it in an old fire pit bowl.

I haven’t tried all the fixings yet but the one I do have on there at the moment goes high when the sun is out and quickly emptied the fire pit bowl due to water being blown over the side. I found something to cover the solar panel unless I am sitting up by it.

I have a solar water feature, a pagoda. The water falls at 4 corners on the top layer and I have seen many birds drink and bathe in the bottom layer. It is 5 years old now and still working well

I do clean it and put the top 2 parts away every autumn. I leave the stand out, it is level and has a couple of bricks inside with a slate slab on top. It does not move in the wind

I turned a fancy pot into a water feature with a floating solar fountain. The problem I had was that if there was any wind the water blew over the edge and the bowl was often empty. I didn't use it for long.

You can get hybrid ones- that you can plug in to charge up the battery as well as having solar power.
I don't know how reliable they are though- I wouldn't buy one myself.

I suppose once you have a breeze you are likely to have water loss...
I hadn't even thought of that.

We've got a small water feature with 2 layers [fake rocks with hollows]. It's not very big BUT a raven recently had a bath on the top layer and the smaller birds decanted to the bottom layer - no fighting at all! I love it

Any recommendations? You can get them online from £5+ so I presume the cheaper ones are rubbish?

We only buy the cheap ones and have only had 2 in the last 5 years or so- very relaxing and the birds don’t seem to mind when they take a drink/bath!
Ours is in a half barrel with a couple of water plants - looks pretty

I have a washing up bowl down the garden full of water with a large stone in the middle. Countless birds visit to drink or bathe and I fill it when needed. Cost nothing As was my old washing up bowl and very low maintenance.

The wind and volume of water are a real downer. Didn’t think of either when I got my £25 one at a garden centre. It’s pretty and works well but have to constantly refill the water reservoir. Am considering getting a half barrel then fixing the feature so the water always falls within the perimeter. Fingers crossed. Bit disappointed as I’ve wanted one for such a long time.

I tethered mine to a brick so it couldn’t get too near the edge , but I ended up just having it as a bubble , loads of different tops to the fountain but ended up just using the bubble
This one was a fiver and is on its 3rd year , I take it in in the really cold weather

Like everyone else's, the water from ours was getting blown over the side. I've conquered that by buying a very attractive though ridiculously expensive bowl for it to sit in. Its not really a bird bath now though its former location has become the bird bath/cat drinking station so everyone seems happy!

This is the one I have made. The solar pump is from Amazon (under £25) and the large pot from Aldi ((£7.99) the inner pot, which is the reservoir has holes drilled in the base and sides (an aquatic basket would have done but I couldn’t find the right size) and is held in place by cheap, small pebbles. The topping pebbles were on offer (about £2)
Total cost under £50

As I mentioned on another thread, sadly I don’t have any small birds visiting my garden but I live in hope!

That looks lovely Merlotgran how enterprising of you. I will look into trying something similar myself.
I have plenty of small birds in my garden but they don't use the bird bath to bathe in although the big ones do. Unfortunately it just takes one wood pigeon to empty it.

I bought one 4 years ago. It's a figurine of a young boy and girl sitting on a bench with a dog
sitting next to them . It wasn't cheap but worth the money. It's standing in a lovely sunny spot and the water flows from early morning until later in the day. So relaxing. You need a sunny spot to get the best results.