Feathered friends.

We have two Wood Pigeons who visit every morning. They sit on the tree and wait for ndn's to throw out the remnants of their breakfast.
For the last couple of mornings they have been joined by a much smaller version of themselves.
They are here now, sitting on a bare branch looking for all the world like mini-Vultures, huddled against the rain.
Could the small one be their chick? Are they a family or is it just coincidence?
I know I could Google but your answers will be much better.

Just been watching a blackbird taking a bath and shower in our water feature. It consists of a series of pots. The blackbird is sitting in the second pot down and the water from the top pot is flowing into his back.

He's having a great time, flapping his wings and splashing about, and there's a female blackbird sitting on the fence waiting her turn.

It's raining hard here, but they still came for their daily bath

Bum!!! GOLDFINCH

I'd love to see nesting goldfish!

I was confused (but quite intrigued|!) by your first sentence, Anya, but now I realise it was just that darn predictive text again...

For the last few years we've had a pair of goldfish and a pair of wood pigeons nesting in one of the conifers in the front garden. Last year another pair of wood pigeons nested in the other conifer and now, I've just seen a second pair of goldfish building a nest in this second conifer.

Is there some kind of symbiotic relationship between these two species of birds perhaps? We certainly get a lot of magpies and I wondered if the tiny goldfinches feel protected by having these huge, but amiable, pigeons nesting close by?

At DD's house last week I saw an unusual bird on her bird feeder. I was not sure what it was, and the nearest I could come to it was a waxwing. I did see two deer and a grey squirrel though.

We decided to have a walk along the local river today, and, unusually, not take a pair of binoculars. What did we see? Kingfisher! Spotted him on a low branch and then he spotted us and was off up the river in a flash of electric blue! B****r! Further down, on the opposite side of the river, a kestrel in a tree, looking at us, looking at him.

In yesterday's snow storm, I caught a glimpse of crimson red and knew straightaway what it was. I went to the kitchen door and there was another on the bird feeder right ba the door, and several more in the ash tree at the side- such beautiful birds- bullfinches. Jet black head, and crimson chest- seen them many times before in late autumn, feeding on the last of the raspberries, and at times in Spring picking buds off the top of the alder tree- but never in mid-winter. Made my day.

I've only received the feeders as yet and not the stand so I am still waiting to attract the birds. Although the handsome 19 year old from next door has said he will strip in my hallway! (Wallpaper)

They know no shame or fear do they? I had a grey squirrel sit in the tree, watching me plant bulbs so he could nip down and eat them as soon as I went in the house. I stalled him by bringing the dogs into the garden.

Had a run in with a squirrel in my garden. Had not cut back my hazel hedge last year and had a good crop of nuts. Grey squirrel and I were taking turns gathering. But on one occasion when I was hanging out washing near the hedge he ventured forth and started gathering within a few feet of me.

I too have to fill the peanut holder every day. The squirrels annoy me by taking them and burying them. Don't mind feeding them, but object to pointless planting. However peanuts are very popular with parakeets and jays, so I grit my teeth and refill. Fat balls are very popular, but the loose seed goes slowly. I tried buying a Niger seed feeder, but no takers for that, any suggestions?

We have a broad mix of birds and bird seed. The peanuts don't last long enough to get mouldy. We had the woodpecker today a few times. A neighbour has plenty of offerings for the sparrow hawk as she has three rather glamorous dovecotes with some very showy ,not very bright ,pigeons. The squirrels are very aggressive at the moment and answer back very rudely when I shoo them.

We have house sparrows. Lots. Enough to spare an odd one or two for the Sparrowhawks and not notice a difference in population numbers. Real little bullies they are. The other birds now have their 'slots' at the feeders mid morning and mid afternoon when the spudger mob are having their naps otherwise they don't stand a chance of getting a beak in!

Looking out of my window, I can see blackbirds, house sparrows, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits and one collared dove. The bird feeder, filled up yesterday is almost empty! We have more garden birds here than in any of my previous houses. It's lovely. I usually have robins as well, but they are absent this morning.

Sorry! I see now that it was NfkDumpling who mentioned the RSPB.

Rubylady...Just picking up on Shysal's mention of the RSPB, you might like to register on the RSPB website for the Big Garden Birdwatch on the weekend of January 24/25? It's good fun and, if you're new to bird watching, informative too. Enjoy!

Shysal. Love the squirrel proof feeder. Have you sent to to the RSPB magazine?

A friend with a squirrel problem used the glass over a tray - with a hefty brick on top - and it works well. We have visiting cats. I think they take more birds than the sparrowhawks. We didn't have a problem when we had our own cat as he was very territorial - no other cat would dare to set a paw. He was also into fur, not feathers - mice, rats, moles, rabbits and squirrels were all on his menu but he completely ignored the birds in fact one blackbird was quite his chum.

Re fruit and veg gardening - Having encouraged birds by feeding them they are quite keen to expand their diet and think the raspberries etc are for them. I use old net curtains to protect fruit bushes and greens when they're too big for cloches as it saves having to untangle sparrows from ordinary netting.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments and insight. At my old house I just put out seed and bread on the table, got no squirrels but a cat did get one bird. Hence buying a stand so that the cats cant get to them. will this be ok? As it is a new area I don't know if squirrels are around and seen one cat. I have ordered the stand off Ebay and feeders plus food from Wilko. I can't wait for them to come.

Plus might do some growing own veg/fruit this year. Any tips on this would be useful too, thanks.

I've come a little late to gardening but I love it, I threw some wild flower seed down on bare soil patch when we came here and now we have seedlings. It's very exciting.

But we can't overhear what they are saying!

They have been leaving the fatballs on my feeder to go mouldy. They used to scoff them almost as soon as I put them out. This time I have bought them in Waitrose to see if there's a difference in quality.

The peanuts in our feeder don't have time to go mouldy! I fill it every morning and by teatime it's empty.

I whizz the peanuts up into tiny bits and feed it with seed in the feeder. That way it doesn't go mouldy