Creating an artificial natural environment for the garden birds.

[Crotal Bell]

I had a couple of comments on my garden bird pictures, suggesting I try to create a more natural scene, rather that on the fence or the feeders.
Well as it happens I have a tree that's getting too big by the garage brickwork and will have to come out, so I have an idea !

I'm going to cut a tall piece with a long branch coming off it. The tall piece will be fixed to the left hand side fence so that the long branch can arc across the grass over the lawn.
Hopefully it will look as good as I imagine and give a natural tree arm for birds to stand on, and provide a nice scene for the photos.

I'll post the results when it's done, but until then I'm afraid I'll have to share another feeder shot from today, but looking forward to a more natural scene in time.
If you have any suggestions for more natural looking feeders please let me know.

 

[JohnyDiggy]

Fatball Feeder Handmade natural rustic wooden Fat Ball Bird Feeder Garden Birds | eBay UK

Rustic Bird Feeder. Attracts a wide range of birds as you can see from the photos, including Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Long Tailed Tits, Great Tits, Robins, Blue Tits, Jays and Jackdaws all been spotted this week.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[JohnyDiggy]

Try the whole sunflower if you can get one, birds love it, and Pictures should look great and natural

 

[Crotal Bell]

Try the whole sunflower if you can get one, birds love it, and Pictures should look great and natural

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

 

[Tringa]

This might work. If you can support thickish branch more or less horizontally you could tack a small shallow container on the opposite side from the camera. If the container is filled with sunflower hearts, or even better, live mealworms the birds will come. The only drawbacks with the mealworms is they will crawl out of the container and once the birds spot them, they won't last very long.

Another one is drilling holes into a branch and force peanuts/suet into the holes.

Dave

 

[Crotal Bell]

This might work. If you can support thickish branch more or less horizontally you could tack a small shallow container on the opposite side from the camera. If the container is filled with sunflower hearts, or even better, live mealworms the birds will come. The only drawbacks with the mealworms is they will crawl out of the container and once the birds spot them, they won't last very long.

Another one is drilling holes into a branch and force peanuts/suet into the holes.

Dave

Good ideas Dave, thanks for that.

 

[fujilover]

Raspberry plants, birds go totally nuts for them when in season. They self propagate so you dont need many of them but take time to establish so more of a long term thing

 

[FromTarn]

I'd be interested to see how you get on with this as some know on here I'm setting up an hide at some point on land I rent..

 

[Crotal Bell]

Raspberry plants, birds go totally nuts for them when in season. They self propagate so you dont need many of them but take time to establish so more of a long term thing

I'll look into that

 

[jerry12953]

I'll look into that

I think I'd rather have the raspberries myself........

 

[Micro-four-thirds]

Raspberry plants, birds go totally nuts for them when in season. They self propagate so you dont need many of them but take time to establish so more of a long term thing

I can talk from experience here, 3yrs ago I planted a couple at the bottom of the garden. This year they are finally producing fruit and the birds keep attacking them. I don’t mind as I enjoy watching the birds in the garden.

 

[Crotal Bell]

I can talk from experience here, 3yrs ago I planted a couple at the bottom of the garden. This year they are finally producing fruit and the birds keep attacking them. I don’t mind as I enjoy watching the birds in the garden.

Patience is the virtue then

 

[Jelster]

This might work. If you can support thickish branch more or less horizontally you could tack a small shallow container on the opposite side from the camera. If the container is filled with sunflower hearts, or even better, live mealworms the birds will come. The only drawbacks with the mealworms is they will crawl out of the container and once the birds spot them, they won't last very long.

Another one is drilling holes into a branch and force peanuts/suet into the holes.

Dave

I have a log in the garden with a couple of holes drilled into it, and in this warm weather, you can squash a fat ball into them, birds love it, and it gives them some natural enrichment.

 

[Photo-Phil]

I'm working on this myself. I have a small tree and some old/rotten branches and logs that I pick up every so often. Birds like this because they hold loads of bugs for them to eat. I got a few new birds after scattering the logs randomly close to my tree. But, and this is a big BUT, the best answer by a long way is to have a bird bath. After introducing a concealed bird bath the number of birds has double. Unfortunately the more hiding places there are for the birds the more difficult it is to photograph them, but when you do get a picture its usually so much better. Have to be patient! But "water" birds love water!