I visited my favourite place yesterday, Bettys café and the RHS shop at Harlow Carr. I've noticed recently that the bird seed is being wolfed down by the larger birds: the Wood Pigeon and the Collared Doves as fast as I can fill the feeders. I don't blame them at all. Winter is coming and they are fattening up in case we have a long hard spell of freezing weather. The big birds can get very boisterous and today two pairs of doves arrived, all wanting the opportunity to get onto the feeding tray at the same time. Wanting to give the small birds a chance, yesterday I bought one of those seed feeders that is like a cage. I haven't seen one go inside it yet so I'm hoping I haven't wasted my money
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| CJ Wildlife, Paris Feeder for small birds |
I have to say though that I think the above feeder is a bad design. You might wonder why I bought it but there was limited choice everywhere I looked. The lid of the feeding tube does not fasten down so in an exposed place, like where I live, it could blow up. It also it rests on the top of the frame in such a way as to leave part of the tube exposed to rain. You'll see that I have, for now, until I get a better idea, put some aluminium foil under the lid to protect the seed from rain. Another problem is that it isn't very easy to clean the tube. You have to undo screws whereas the big black feeder, made by Onyx, the bottom just comes free with a twist. Unfortunately, I could find no feeder like the above made by Onyx.
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| Four collared doves hungry for seed |
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| Little blue tit enjoying peanuts in the sunshine. |