Winter is coming.....cuisine for wildlife!

[peanut]

In winter I keep a block of lard or dripping in the fridge, chop bits off it, melt and stir in porridge oats and any chopped nuts or sultanas I have lying about, not to make into a cake, just to put loose into saucers, Blackbirds, Thrushes, Robins etc love it!
I also leave all the leftover apples in the garden for the birds.
I feed the birds all year round with peanuts, fat balls and sunflower hearts, plus lots of the shrubs and perennials I grow have seed heads or berries for the birds too.
Got to love nature

[burnie]

This is the time of year when I start to feed the birds again, first job is to make sure everything is cleaned properly to prevent the birds being poisoned. Gathering nuts and seeds from the wild is both fun and useful for the birds as long as we don't rob the wild larder too much. We have Hazelnuts nearby, too small to be worth me trying to eat them(I have tried lol), but I'm sure the birds will like them when I've shelled them.

[greenishfing]

We left a few apples on the tree in the Autumn (too high to pick). They are now being eaten by the birds in situ. I'm amazed they never fell off.

[Babru]

I have lots of seabirds flying over my garden, gulls, oyster catchers, terns mostly, but they don't stop for food.

Other than that I have blackies, sparrows and a robin. I haven't been able to get the sparrows to feed yet, but the blackies are always hungry, so I have a raised platform with a 'cage' over it (from RSPB shop) and I put pears, dried worms and smashed peanuts in every day. The blackies only like conference pears, and aren't keen on rocha etc. The robin stops in to the cage now and again too. Bigger birds can't get in.

[Deanydotcom]

This might help people understand some good foods for birds, it’s a link to the Royal Society’s page (RSPB) so I hope that’s ok. It tells you of the fat tub I explained above but they use a half coconut shell. Hope it helps.


https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wi...ood-for-birds/

[Deanydotcom]

I have a tip for unhealthy people like myself, using old yoghurt tubs. Every time I have a fry up, or grill if slightly healthier, I trim the bacon fat and drop in the yoghurt tub, also pour the fat in, this is also repeated on other meats I cook. I also drop a few loose seed in, or cheese offcuts and then fill the tub up with a little melted lard/dripping. Once it has set, I stick a twig in the side of the tub as a perch.
These can be reused so plastic doesn’t have to be thrown away.
P.S I use unsalted meat fat as I know this to be unhealthy for the birds, it is mainly the rind that is salted so remove this before using the fat.
I love to see the different birds in my garden and allotment, they are great pest controllers. I hope this works for a few more of you, please let me know if it works for you, it might help during the upcoming RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.

If you have children then

baker ross do apple skewer jobbies https://www.bakerross.co.uk/apple-wooden-bird-feeder

or you can make cheerio hoops (piece of garden wire and cereal) the girls loved making these at an event with RSPB

or if you haven't seen them the window feed stations.

Will be trying the peanut butter feeders this winter. (My 6 year old is an animal lover and is really getting in to the wildlife side of things)

[Kirk]

Yes I have one youngster around at present, must have been somewhat late brood.
The "most tame" one was a youngster some months ago that realised I didn't mind him having the assorted bugs etc that I made available when digging.

Every year I have usually 2 pairs sharing the place.
Every year it is the same - they contrive to not quite see each other. Actually amusing.
They say robins will fight, they will I suspect unless they can avoid it, and these always seem to just avoid it, somehow. I spread food around so they are not at one place.

Presently at least one (pair) seem to use an area of dumped pine branches to live in or under. Minor catch is I need to clear it. Oh dear!!!

Need another bird box for them, and a few more evergreens. Have 6 small pyrocanthas but they are too small presently - grew from seed/fruits from a handful I picked. Will try another handful this year - costs nothing.

[burnie]

This time of year Robin young are still tolerated in their parents territory, it doesn't last for long, indeed the adults don't tolerate each other either, think I know some humans like that too lol.

[Kirk]

Does "Winter cuisine" include Robin Kabab ?
I cannot go in the garden without getting visited by a robin. I seem to have a garden that is good for them and I suspect sits at the boundry of 2 if not 3 terriatories.

Have debated applying to do a PhD in the social interplay of urban robins.
They don't fight or confront each other unless they have to, Mine seem to see the other 1 or 2 or 3 and contrive to look away so they "don't see them" and so avoid conflict.
So I have a number of robins all avoiding each other somehow in some crazy dance around the garden.

One has worked out I am safe, so if necessaary he/she sits at my feet. I guess I am supposed to scare the others off.

Digging bits of garden just gets a robin waiting to jump on anything that wiggles. One scared the heck out of me, appeared about 4 inches from my hand. Not sure if it is the same robin or different ones.

[ESBkevin]

We will be starting to feed regularly again soon. During summer the odd dried crust or a single fat ball has been available, but the birds are encouraged to feed naturally when it's plentyful.
We have some not great sweetcorn that will be dried ready, and of course the sunflowers. The sunflowers are not particularly big this year, but they are organic ;-).
I'm going to try a different feeder to discourage the pigeons and doves of which we are not short. I might leave the summer raspberry canes very long and put a feeder within them for the smaller birds. Otherwise I shall build a bird house with a low overhanging roof to keep the big birds out.

[burnie]

I don't put any food out in the summer, just supply tons of slugs, snails and caterpillars for free lol. But I am now starting to put food out, started with fat slabs and will add sunflower seeds and later this month peanuts. I've stopped feeding the "bird food" seed as there is just so much waste in it these days and the birds seem happy enough. May add some fat balls after the first frost along with Niger seed for the Goldfinches.

[Kirk]

As we "speak" I am soaking some raisins and sultanas for the blackbirds, they seem to love them and by soaking, the birds get liquid if it is frosty (as it was here, this morning )

I keep getting the urge to soak some dried fruit in something alcoholic. Sort of revenge.

Mine get a steady supply of peanut granules and sunflower hearts, seem the peanuts are preferred so about 2:1 ratio.
Also suet bits - the red fruit one seem preferred. Robin likes them.

If I make up a "fat ball" recipe it is peanuts, sunflower hearts and dried sultanas through a grinder, melt the suet and mix in the ground stuff. Tend to just let it set in a plastic container then push it out and put it on a feeding station of some sort. Makes 3 or 4 at a time.

Find the dried mealweorms are not popular. Can half understand it, not much in a dried mealworm after all. So I gave up buying them. Now it is about 2Kg of the other stuff a week. At least I can get it loose and so reasonable amounts without 25lb sacks lying around.

[Nannysally99]

The pigeons are a big problem as well as parakeets in our garden.
We have a hidden bird feeder in a nice bush for the tits, finches etc
Mr Robin and his family ground feed under, as do any sparrows that may turn up.
Will be looking to hang fat balls in the bush as well during the winter months
I have to say that our neighbour but one has the all singing and dancing bird feeder that the parakeets make a bee line for

[scarey55]

As we "speak" I am soaking some raisins and sultanas for the blackbirds, they seem to love them and by soaking, the birds get liquid if it is frosty (as it was here, this morning )