Feathered friends.

Those sunflower seed husks do make a mess on the patio, but I don't mind. Soon cleared- and as soon as Spring is here properly, I'll stope feeding as I don't like the idea of birds being dependent when they have other stuff to eat out there.

I buy 'no mess' bird seed.....and they've turn their beaks up at it recently, peanuts going slowly, suet blocks definitely the favourite at the moment.

We got bird seed from the garden centre nearby. It stated on the bag that it was non sprouting! The birds devoured it without it having any chance of sprouting. DH bought Richard Jackson's birdseed from QVC at the beginning of the winter. It went down well with all the birds. We don't have Sky now and do not have very many freeview channels in our area so we can't get any more.

So much bird seed sold in supermarkets is useless and full of maize and corn totally unsuitable for song birds- and will attract pigeons and even vermin. I only buy sunflower seeds now, or sunflower +hemp mix (do get interesting plants growing under the feeders ;) ) - will grow sunflowers this Summer and also allow thistles to grow in the field- as they attract so much birdlife in late Summer, including those gorgeous godlfinches.

Coal tits and blackcaps are different birds. Blackcaps are a bit bigger than coal tits, and they tend to be summer visitors in the north of England and Scotland although they are resident elsewhere. Just for added confusion marsh tits and willow tits have black caps too.
I love birds, you might have guessed!

Are black-cap tits the same as coal-tits? I did giggle at your googling shock!
We have great-, blue-, coal-, long-tail tits (when Sparrowhawk not patrolling) as well as the usual garden birds and a spotted woodpecker.
I love seeing them but like you anno Niger seed is ignored by the finches, most odd.
I find suet blocks are eagerly devoured, more so than peanuts and seed (pity, as have bags of those!).

The wood pigeons tramp around under the bird feeder to pick up the grains dropped by the small birds. I saw a couple having a 'bill and coo' the other day. The female was desperately trying to get the male to do the deed, lifting up her tail and inciting him, but without success. The other day I bought a bag of Nyger seed to tempt the finches. The ungrateful creatures still seem to prefer the sunflower hearts!

Agreed anno. As loopylou says, magpies and crows also have such terrible reputation- which I find puzzling. Most people would say that birds of prey just do what nature has assigned to them- and yet will treat crow and magpie as 'baddies'. Animals, be they hyenas or grey squirrels, cannot be responsible for what rôle nature has given to them, surely?

No pigeons at all at our altitude. In Leicester, on the Eastern outskirts of the town, we used to have so many birds- but very different to the ones we get here. Including collared doves, and pigeons. My attitude to pigeons changed when I witnessed, 3 years in a row, a pigeon nesting, incubating and hatching + caring for the young- in a lime tree right opposite my kitchen window. She was not afraid of me, and we used to watch each other as I cleaned pots at the sink. She as such a fabulous and attentive mother, and the babies so ruffled and spiky and gauche- I got to really like them and be very protective if crows or magpies approached.

We have so many species of tits here- the only one we did have in our Midlands garden and do not have here, are long-tailed tits. I loved their soft pink colour and chatter.

One tit here is actually called black cap in English, but 'mésange à tête noire' here. I made the mistake, without thinking of Googling them as 'black tits' and got the shock of my life and more than I bargained for - yiiikes.

Think I'll Google.
Not sure if P and P are literate. I know they only speak Pigeon English

Ooops! Hope they weren't reading this

Polly and Percy, the living ones mentioned higher up.
I thank you.

for preference

Pie or pâté Juliette?

[notthatI'meatingeither!]

Pigeons, anybody?

Of course anno, I'd forgotten that!

The small finches have been badly affected by trichomonosis which affects their throats so that they are unable to eat or drink. I may have caught a glimpse of a greenfinch today and I've certainly seen a number of goldfinches. I hope I continue to see them in future years.

Big fleas have little fleas
Upon their backs to bite 'em;
And little fleas have lesser fleas
And so ad infinitum.

'Live and let live' comes to mind but not reassuring for its prey
We have buzzards by the dozen around here, and red kites not far away so there seems to be plenty of food for the carrion feeders too.

Magpies, crows, and several other birds have 'reputations' however someone one said Nature's red in tooth and claw, very true.

Why should a sparrowhawk have a bad reputation for doing what it has to do to survive?

I know they have a bad reputation, but I love sparrowhawks. I could watch them for hours on the wing circling and climbing, and we used to get one in our old garden regularly. He was a real beauty, and would sit on the branch of an old 40 foot ex-Christmas tree, not ten feet from our patio windows, have a bit of a preen and then fly off. His visits didn't seem to put off the local birds who also used the tree - goldcrests, three different kinds of tits, greenfinches....

Nature- we have a pair of sparrow hawks who feed on our bird feeders- and not the seeds but....

Does anyone see siskins and bramblings (which are called Northern chaffinches in French - pinsons du nord) in the UK?

How lovely granjura
We've got a Sparrowhawk here for the past few days, not a little bird to be seen

She's a beautiful creature but so murderous; I could hardly believe my eyes watching her fly straight through a large ball-shaped bay tree without any sign of slowing down when pursuing a Blue Tit.

I'd found blue feathers on the lawn a few days ago but blamed the neighbour's cat....

I managed to take a photo of her (much larger than the male) perched on the trellis but it's not clear enough to post on here.

After Spring's arrival for a few weeks, we've had tons of rain, and even snow the last couple of days... and the arrival of lots of lovely siskins (small bright yellow finches with black markings) and bramblings, a much larger finch with bright orange, black and white colourings.

Swallows should be arriving soon, so must open 'their' window into the barn for them. Let's hope the weather improves in the meantime- arriving from such a long journey and not finding anything to eat is not a good start. Black redstarts arrived a couple of weeks back- one of my (many) favourites.

Our birds are eating us out of house and home. I have one large feeder and one small feeder plus a ground feeder also a small "apple" near the kitchen.I also scatter live mealworms around at this time of the year. I fill them up every morning and everything is gone by the afternoon. I order the food from Titmuss or the RSBP it was late arriving this week, the birds hung around and looked as if they were starving I felt terrible!