woodpecker joy

I know so many people who will not feed birds because they 'make a mess' - the joys from seeing all the wonderful and varied birds on the feeder and patio outweigh the inconvenience of the mess x 1000 and more! I do not feed birds when Spring comes (I think birds should be encouraged to feed as normally as poss, and they do get lazy if fed) unless there is a spell of very bad weather- and the mess is soon cleaned up.

Very occasionally when we open the blinds in the morning, there will be a duck resting on our patio There is a canal at the back of our house and we have had a heron sitting on our fence in the past. When I am hanging out washing in the summer I can hear quacking or the sound of canal boats put-putting past. Our own little bit of nature in a city suburb. Lovely.

We have had several visits every day from the woodpeckers . They hang onto the peanut cage and peck at the fat balls. They queue up on the telephone wire upside down! I'll try and post a rather blurry photos we have two pairs of jays and at the moment all sorts of flocking little birds,blue tits,coal tits,I think it's safety in numbers.

We used to get redwings and fieldfares on a neighbour's old apple tree which overhung our garden. She meticulously removed all the windfalls because she didn't like the mess, but I left mine on the ground and they used to be all over them like a rash.

Sounds delicious, shysal !

Elegran, I put down mealworms, fruity fat pellets and sultanas. I do occasionally see fieldfares on the neighbour's crab apple tree, and I know they tend to gather with redwings.

I haven't seen a redwing for years. We do have woodpeckers at the back of our house; when my son still lived at home they used to drive him mad when he was trying to get a lie in. I did have a great sadness a couple of years ago, though, when one flew into my patio window and died . That was heartbreaking. You can see so much more on the back of a horse, can't you jenn, cause wildlife doesn't find them intrusive. We have a lot of birds of prey around here and I love seeing the Buzzards sitting on telegraph poles; it reminds me so much of my time in Cornwall, when there were Buzzards everywhere.

I don't think the redwing would be interested in your bird food, shysal I think they eat berries and worms. That is why like fieldfares they descend on anything still left on the bushes and strip them.

Last week, after snow, I saw my first ever redwing, on the roadside next to a meadow, I was thrilled! I took some bird food for it later that day, but haven't seen it since.
My garden backs on to farmland, so see wild birds in abundance. Green and spotted woodpeckers, jays, red kites, tits, robins, sparrows, starlings etc. are commonplace. Yesterday I bought a jar of Flutter Butter with feeder, but they have not approached it yet.
A couple of years ago I saw a sparrowhawk carry off a greater spotted woodpecker. I then had to hear the plaintive calls of a baby bird calling for it's parent from a high nest hole, poking it's head out for several days, getting weaker and weaker - it was heartbreaking!

We have wrens which are hard to spot, they dart around so much, and the goldfinch seems to like the seeds on one of our honeysuckles. Blue tits and long tailed tits visit us regularly, but I think we have lost the thrush which is a pity. Sparrows, robins and starlings also visit plus of course the pigeons and we also have seagulls which are a real nuisance, but lovely to watch as they float in the night-time sky.

We have heard a few this year but haven't managed to see one yet. DH often thinks he's heard one, but rooks and crows sometimes make a mechanical sounding clicking noise which sounds a bit like a woodpecker's tapping noise. I like the laughing noise the green woodpecker makes. On our way home from DD's the other night, we saw a barn owl flying along a field margin; only the third I have ever seen in the wild. We got really excited the other day when a blue tit landed on our bird feeder! We only ever get sparrows and black birds in this garden. Never thought I would ever think of blue tits as anything but commonplace in a garden of mine.

DD visitor was the spotted variety.

Oh suzied how lucky you are and in London too. We live in a rural area and comment if we see a blue tit or robin on our bird feeder as it's a rare treat. We usually only see sparrows and starlings

And we also have a flock of parakeets who try to eat from the bird feeders .

We have in our London garden : Woodpeckers, jays, goldfinches, nuthatches, wrens, robins, starlings, crows, chaffinches, blackbirds amongst others. Mind you, my OH spends a fortune on stuff to feed them with and squirrel-proof feeders( which the squirrels can get in of course).

I took my grandson to the DLI museum yesterday. We were sitting in the cafe, and looked out of the window to see a jay sitting in the tree. I think I was more excited than he was, but the assistant said they often saw them, in a bored tone of voice.

I've just checked and it is a great spotted, a joyous splash of red .My morning walk with the dogs through the woods is wonderful at this time of the year but he was just the cherry on the cake! My horse is stabled on the moors and there I spend my time laughing at the pheasants who always look as if they have lost something and being amazed at the hovering hawks. I didn't think I was a bird watcher but they do add to my day.

Are we talking about the green or the greater/lesser spotted variety? We get them in our garden regularly (we too live near Sandhurst ) as my DH makes a bird pudding every day in the winter. We also get herons standing erect near our garden pond and lately we have had a pheasant appear every day to partake of the pudding.

When DD lived at Sandhurst Military School she had woodpecker that came to her garden on almost a daily basis. When she moved to a different part of the married quarters I saw a Jay in her garden a couple of times. I'd never seen one before and got quiet excited.

Yes I so agree - this morning 2 of my grandsons (3 and 6) had stayed the night and in the morning stood transfixed in the sunshine on our bedroom balcony as a heron rose in the air and flew down to the river - it was enchanting! - and they were so excited.

I agree, only ever seen one once hereabouts and I told everybody till they were sick of hearing about it.

Agreed.