High Table
As you perhaps know if you're living in Britain, there seems to be rather a lot of snow about at the moment and there's been a lot of "country grinding to a halt"- type news items.
Most of the bird population of Yorkshire heads to our garden in such times as they know they won't starve.
I put food out every day, sometimes twice, especially in the winter. Some on the ground, on the top lawn, as some birds prefer to eat from the ground and they have a good view of anything that might be trying to eat them.
The rest goes on the bird table and there are a couple of bird feeders too: but I find that the birds prefer the table.
I give them a seed mix called "Dovecot Mix" which is basically the same as what is marketed as Wild Bird Food - - but for some reason it's much cheaper and the pet shop once pointed this out to me. I buy it in bulk, a whole winter's worth at once.To this I add bread, any other flour-based leftovers like old mince pies, and occasionally I buy things like balls of fat with seeds in too. Sometimes I buy dried mealworms - - yum! - - as robins particularly like these. I always make sure there's fresh water in the birdbath, too.
Our bird table is not a thing of beauty. It was built by the Communist, well over thirty years ago, and like everything he made it has stamina if not looks. Here it was, today, just as I was about to replenish the food and remove the top layer of snow:
The branches next to it are from my fig tree, which I planted by accident once when I threw a bit of an overripe fig out of the window.
As you can see, the bird table is rather battered and from time to time I have vague thoughts of getting a new one.
But the trouble with new ones is they're mostly like this one if you click here:
There are several things wrong with it - - apart from the fact that it costs a hundred and twenty-seven quid!
Firstly, I don't think it needs a roof - - do birds in general need such things? I suppose it's to prevent the food from getting wet but actually that doesn't matter much - ours eat the food so fast that it doesn't stay around long, and it shouldn't be hanging around for long anyway or it will rot.
In general birds just like a clear view so that they can see that nothing's about to pounce on them.
And that brings me to the crucial element - as far as I can see, most commercially-produced bird tables just aren't high enough. Day after day I see the neighbourhood's cats try to leap up to ours and fail - it's just too high for cats to reach.
Whereas most commercially-produced bird tables are at just the right height for the cats to practice their bird-catching skills.
Really, what's needed is a table just like ours - anything more elaborate than that is just an excuse for charging lots of money. The Communist knew what he was doing on the bird-table front, which is why most of the birds of West Yorkshire seemed to be in our garden today.
I put that round ball of fat on the table today as an experiment, to see what would happen. It was next seen making its way across the lawn in the jaws of a very smug-looking squirrel.
Most of the bird population of Yorkshire heads to our garden in such times as they know they won't starve.
I put food out every day, sometimes twice, especially in the winter. Some on the ground, on the top lawn, as some birds prefer to eat from the ground and they have a good view of anything that might be trying to eat them.
The rest goes on the bird table and there are a couple of bird feeders too: but I find that the birds prefer the table.
I give them a seed mix called "Dovecot Mix" which is basically the same as what is marketed as Wild Bird Food - - but for some reason it's much cheaper and the pet shop once pointed this out to me. I buy it in bulk, a whole winter's worth at once.To this I add bread, any other flour-based leftovers like old mince pies, and occasionally I buy things like balls of fat with seeds in too. Sometimes I buy dried mealworms - - yum! - - as robins particularly like these. I always make sure there's fresh water in the birdbath, too.
Our bird table is not a thing of beauty. It was built by the Communist, well over thirty years ago, and like everything he made it has stamina if not looks. Here it was, today, just as I was about to replenish the food and remove the top layer of snow:
The branches next to it are from my fig tree, which I planted by accident once when I threw a bit of an overripe fig out of the window.As you can see, the bird table is rather battered and from time to time I have vague thoughts of getting a new one.
But the trouble with new ones is they're mostly like this one if you click here:
There are several things wrong with it - - apart from the fact that it costs a hundred and twenty-seven quid!
Firstly, I don't think it needs a roof - - do birds in general need such things? I suppose it's to prevent the food from getting wet but actually that doesn't matter much - ours eat the food so fast that it doesn't stay around long, and it shouldn't be hanging around for long anyway or it will rot.
In general birds just like a clear view so that they can see that nothing's about to pounce on them.
And that brings me to the crucial element - as far as I can see, most commercially-produced bird tables just aren't high enough. Day after day I see the neighbourhood's cats try to leap up to ours and fail - it's just too high for cats to reach.
Whereas most commercially-produced bird tables are at just the right height for the cats to practice their bird-catching skills.
Really, what's needed is a table just like ours - anything more elaborate than that is just an excuse for charging lots of money. The Communist knew what he was doing on the bird-table front, which is why most of the birds of West Yorkshire seemed to be in our garden today.
I put that round ball of fat on the table today as an experiment, to see what would happen. It was next seen making its way across the lawn in the jaws of a very smug-looking squirrel.
posted by Daphne at 5:28 pm
5 Comments:
It's nice to think that that simple bird table was made by your father and that it endures after his passing. It's also nice to think that a self-confessed "red" shared your passion for birdlife. Soon as I got home from my early finish for snow I was straight up the garden bringing food for my feathered friends. As you will see from my blog, I used a metal plate from an old barbecue grill on a post for our birdtable. I deliberately made it this way so that there would be a pretty sharp edge that cats wouldn't be able negotiate and it has worked!
I have exactly the same problem regarding squirrels and fat balls, Daphne. :)
Disgraceful Jennyta. Where is a moderator when you need one !
I notice you quietly sneaked in a Jack & The Beanstalk bit there, Daffy. I never realised that throwing uneaten foods out the window could be so potentially beneficial.
When I get home I plan to chuck out some pizza crusts or better still, a steak t-bone. Can't wait.
That's a great memorial to The Communist if you ask me and, if it does the job who cares if it's a little tatty.
We make our own fat balls/lumps by collecting pork fat in a can with a bit of string dangled in it, a bit like a candle.
I love these posts about feeding the birds! I make lard and seed bird puddings too - the waxeyes especially come and visit towards the end of what passes for winter here.
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