Small things that cheer us.

I too love watching the birds in the garden. We get sparrows, bluetits and great tits on the fat ball feeder and goldfinches and bullfinches on the sunflower hearts. This morning I watched a woodpecker on the fat balls while drinking my coffee - lovely. A one legged moorhen hops along from a nearby pond and hoovers up the crumbs that the other birds drop. It amazes me to see how he manages to jump up on to the birdbath every morning. Jackdaws are a nuisance though as they empty the fat ball feeders when we're not here to shoo them off.

We have never had a squirrel in the garden until last week - but he (?) has been back every day to eat the peanuts. Earlier in the year we got lots of bluetits but now it's mainly sparrows, plus a magpie and some wood pigeons and collared doves and some big black crow like birds. We also have regular visits from a Greater spotted woodpecker and the occasional blackbird,
A few years ago as well as bluetits we had chffinches, long tailed tits, wagtails, greenfinches and the occasional gold finch, but now seems to be mainly sparrows.

My birds have very aggressive competition for the birdfood.

A lot of people do not like Gulls, Herring Gulls in particular, though they have never seen how clever & adaptive these birds are.
I feed one that is ringed as part of a project to see how far Gulls, all types, will go when their Landfill site is closed.
He 'invented' his own way of feeding from a bowl that I hold for him. He answers to Fred, from his number, a whistle if I cannot see him.
The Gulls nest on our roof & some of our neighbours, though Fred somehow lost his this year & nested across the road. He still comes for his food.
Have been told by some people that we will not get other birds on our feeders while we feed the Gulls. obviously these 'know it alls' havent told the other smaller birds this.
We have a garden full of birds waiting for the food each morning. So love Spring.

Unfortunately we have so many crows and magpies, that we get very few little birds on the feeders. I do see that later in the day we get starlings and thrushes and sometimes robins foraging in the garden up to as late as 10 pm theses days as it is still daylight in northern Scotland.

We have a lovely bird bath & they completely ignore it & bathe in muddy puddles. We have cats (only one that ever goes after birds) so they would be much safer in the bird bath- I think they enjoy taunting the cat TBH. He sits under the bird tables & salivates & they look down at him & I'm sure they are laughing. They know he can't get up there after them. We also have window feeders & he sits on the window cill chuddering at them- they just ignore him totally.

I found a wren's nest just outside our gite yesterday, I have been seeing them in that area for years but never seen the nest before - it's tiny!

OH has just made me a rustic bird table so I am looking forward to more visiting birds now. Summer is here and I spend lots of time up at the pool, particularly during the evening. I so love the wagtails that strut around the pool area looking like little old men in morning dress.

At about 5 o'clock we have house martin o'clock when we take our aperos up to the pool. Dozens of them sit on the electricity cable high above and swoop down to drink or catch the insects hovering above the water. It's magic.

I am hoping the hoopoes will be back this year. The last few days we have had a little rabbit hopping around, quite unfazed by the dogs and cat. The house martins have just started nesting in the barns, a few bats around too. The buzzards are soaring overhead, and maybe later we will see Egyptian vultures and possible very high up a golden eagle. My own little paradise.

Does everyone still feed the birds in the Summer? I always stop as I didn't think it necessary in the warmer months.

Thank you Christalbee.

What beautiful stories of all your birds!! It really cheered me up this morning. I love birds too and have feeders in back and front of the house. Love the story from sue01 re the bluetits, how delightful!!

I look after the War Memorial in our tiny village. It's unusual in that it has a covered porch and bench seats either side.

As you walk in, there's an ancient iron pump mounted on the wall facing you - and somehow blue tits have managed to nest behind it.

We're on the Jurassic way and get a lot of walkers - lovely to see their faces when they sit down to eat their sandwiches and hear the chirruping !!

I love watching the birds on my feeder. I daren't give them a bath to use as I have cats. They are mainly starlings at the moment and I have had to apologise to the neighbours for the racket they make from 4am! It is a bit like the Hitchcock movie while I am putting out the food. They can be seen lined up along rooftops and fences. At the moment there are 4 pigeons with the starlings, no wonder the feeder always has a lean on it with the weight.

I thought we had starlings nesting in our soffits again this year - we could hear them moving about and see them bringing nest material, but we never saw or heard any youngsters, so maybe the nest failed. Magpies are our biggest nuisance. They can be nowhere to be seen and then suddenly home in on anything you put out for the birds - cheese, and rice especially - and Hoover it up before anything else has a look in.

Me neither, but I will be doing it when I get home. It's a great idea. I can see one of our bird baths from our bedroom window and I sit on the edge of the bed for ages sometimes. The plate idea is good too. We don't get many 'exotic' birds either, but I can always tell when a magpie arrives because of the racket it makes! I call the starlings The Terrorists because of the way they descend on the garden and scare everyone else away!

Yes the pigeons treat the birdbath disgustingly. We have a Hawthorn near to it and the magpies queue up the take a bath. I never thought to put pebbles in for smaller birds but they don't seem to mind.

We get a lot of sparrows in our garden - not much other than sparrows actually, but I do love them. You go out in the morning and they are squabbling fit to bust in the trees at the back of the garden, like some huge family dust up. And then they all go quiet, so that you can almost see them, arms crossed with their backs to each other in a huff! We have a bird bath and they do use it, along with the pigeons and the blackbirds, but their favourite form of ablution is to dust bathe in the patch of bare earth around the plum tree. I was thinking of planting it up this year, but the birds love it so much that I have decided to leave it. We seem to have a lot more youngsters this year.

I also love watching the birds in my garden, particularly at this time of year. Just above my kitchen window, there is a small hole in the stonework, about 4cms big. Every year a family of house sparrows build their nest and lay eggs. I watch as they bob in and out, carrying nest building material and I now leave out the fluff from the tumble dryer for them - they take the lot! Once their young have hatched, there's a mad frenzy to feed them and this year they've eaten their way through a bumper sized tub of mealy worms. I could spend all day just watching them, they fascinate me and I always feel quite sad when the last of the fledglings have left for another year. Sheer joy to have them share my home with me.

We don't get any birds in the garden, luckily they are only too aware of our three cats just so wanting to eat them. We get loads flying over though. Love watching the pigeons flapping like crazy to gain a bit of height. Contrasting those the red kites appear from nowhere soaring and gliding for seemingly minutes on end.

Hi tanith I was given those plates by my mother when she bought a new set. We just used two of them to eat our dinner tonight. The glaze went on the one outside. I have a cupboard full of mismatched crockery but I've promised myself a new set when my kitchen is done in a few weeks.

I love the ariel display the swallows give us every evening

We also have one, I love to watch the birds come especially this time of year.

We have one too 'lizzypopbottle' and so enjoy watching the birds use it. As you say they all have a different method of use. The pigeon is so messy though and he often poos in the water its disgusting and I have to go wash it out.
By the way I remember my ex mil had the whole dinner set the same as your dinner plate in fact I think she still has some in use.

Here's the photo but I think it's going to come upside down! There are no birds because they won't stay to be photographed in the bath!