Over the next month or so, I will be having a range of new feeding stations coming online to live stream on my website. With Autumn heading our way, I love feeding the birds and seeing which new species I can attract and share with you. There will be some exciting new, more novel feeding station appearing too, so watch this space!
Dave, my carpenter friend, helped me create the new feeding station I had designed for the centre of my garden. I wanted to put in a bird table-type feeding station that would also allow me to feed from standard feeders and be placed in a space where the squirrels would not be able to access it. My garden is long and narrow, with mature trees all around, so there were not many spaces to get it in a central position, without easy leaping access! I have placed it up in my wild flower meadow, raised on a substantial post, with a squirrel baffle made out of a plastic carpet mat.
I have mounted three CJ Wildlife feeders in the back of the feeding station. I designed it with a back, so it would give a good camera image, with a clear backdrop. I under-coated and painted it in an exterior paint and drilled draining holes to allow water to escape. As the feeders were a little shorter than the height I had created, I cut some little rests from some pipe for the feeders to sit on. This means that the feeders don’t swing,
The next stage was to fill the feeders and to see how long it would be before my birds discovered it… I knew it wouldn’t be long!
The robin was the first to explore, within an hour. In the next few hours, the blue and great tits arrived. Over the last 2 weeks, visitors have gradually increased and it is now a hive of activity. I am looking forward to getting this table up on my live streams!
I always love it when the bird numbers start to increase on my feeders again. I do have feeders out all year around, but as natural food levels start to decrease, it is always great to see my favourite species reappearing. There have been lots of greenfinches and also goldfinches, then last week I had a little flock of long-tailed tits working their way around the garden. I don’t think I have ever had this many on a feeder!
Feeding the birds as a small child, in my SE London garden, was what first really got me interested in wildlife and birds .. it is one of the easiest ways to connect with the wildlife right on your doorstep!