Yet more added to my feeder tree today! I had read on the Dorset Wildlife Trust Twitter feed that they had pushed Brazil nuts into holes in the posts on their bird tables and these had proven very popular with the coal tits. I am already wedging peanuts into my totem feeder, so I thought I would have a go. In the supermarket, I spent a pound on a large tray of mixed nuts: brazil nuts, hazelnuts, almonds,walnuts and peanuts.
I used one of the smallest bits on my battery hand drill… I like this drill better than the electric one as it is easier to control the speed of the drill bit. My idea was that I would drill a very small hole through each of the nut pieces. With the drill at a slow speed, it was easy to drill through….
As I drilled holes in the nuts, I strung them onto a piece of garden wire…..
I had the idea that I would then wind the wire into a small ring and then hang it onto the feeder tree…. so I strung enough nuts to create a ringlet with a diameter of about 10cm:
Twisting the two ends together, I then hung it onto the feeder tree…
I also wanted to create some nut skewers, but couldn’t find any BBQ skewers in October!…. so I settled for a long, narrow twig. Once again, I threaded the nuts onto the twig….
I drilled a small hole in the platform of the feeder totem and pushed the twig into the hole…
A neighbour had been doing some garden trimming and was about to cut up some beautiful berry laden twigs…. I took a few before he did so as I thought they would offer food as well as nice perches…
I also drilled two channels into the totem feeder and wedged some brazil nuts into the holes…. the great tits have been raiding the other peanuts. I just hope the squirrel doesn’t discover these new feeders as they will not last long.
I then retreated behind the corner of the conservatory with my camera to see if the birds showed any interest in their new treats. Well,you would not believe it… within ten minutes both blue tits and great tis had visited! I managed to get a couple of shots….
I did also see the great tit go on the nut Spike, but didn’t manage to get a photo.