Garden bird photography.

sunflower seed, niger seed, wild bird food, fat balls, coconut feeders
hth
 
Cheers for the replies guys, that should give me plenty ideas to be going on with. I like the suggestion you make in the other post John about including some natural materials to aid with getting better photos but not sure how viable that will be with this particular feeder, will see if I can cobble something together though once I have it. :thumbs:
 
To start with, (it will get expensive later :lol: ), some fat balls, in a fat ball holder. (take the green netting off if they come in that, the birds tongues can sometimes get caught)
A good quality seed mix; (and some on the ground, for the ground feeder birds).
I use an old roasting tin, keeps it tidy.
And fresh water, just as important as the food, especially this weather.

Good luck :thumbs:
 
Gonetae said:
Cheers for the replies guys, that should give me plenty ideas to be going on with. I like the suggestion you make in the other post John about including some natural materials to aid with getting better photos but not sure how viable that will be with this particular feeder, will see if I can cobble something together though once I have it. :thumbs:
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You're welcome Gonetae, no probs.

I have a similar feeder in my garden, and what I have done is to bring some of the 'live' branches from adjacent trees and fixed them around parts of the metal feeding station. This has yielded some excellent opportunities for garden bird shots. I have also placed some older fir tree branches into the actual feeders allowing the birds to land on those as they feed, instead of having to grip the metal of the feeders.

To show you what I mean here's two images. The first is of a LTT sat on an adjacent branch that I have wrapped around the vertical pole of the feeding station, and the second is of a Greenfinch that has landed on the fir branches I placed into the actual niger/peanut feeder.

p617363174-4.jpg


p491457212-4.jpg
 
Don't forget the meal worms. Robins & blackbirds love them. One other thing is to grate the fat balls for the ground feeders.
 
^ +1 to that, the mealworms I place are always snapped up really quickly.
 
you can make your own fat ball with cheap lard and seed mix


not tried it yet seems a bit messy but bet the cost is reduced massively for the amount you will be able to make
 
schrismonkey said:
you can make your own fat ball with cheap lard and seed mix


not tried it yet seems a bit messy but bet the cost is reduced massively for the amount you will be able to make
Click to expand...

If you are going into Aldi for the feeder... look out for their bird feed too. Pack of 6 fat balls in the green mesh for 99p. :thumbs:
 
Can someone tell me if it is better to have a bird feeder with a roof/top to prevent the seed getting blown away/damp. Or is a feeder like the one Tommy mentioned in the original post just as good or better?
 
Whatever feeders you get, wire them into the tree or wherever against theft by squirrel.

If you boil up marrow-bones and save the marrow and the fat, you can fill a half coconut and string it up from the wee holes. You can add all kinds of seeds and things into the mxture in the nut.

THEN you can make soup

If you've got a flat area, pick up some bits wood from the woods - old roots, flat bits of (thick) bark etc. Sprinkle seed around and push it into crevices, even bread crumbs will be welcome. Recently a pack of short-bread we'd let go stale attracted all sorts of birds.
 
Janice said:
Can someone tell me if it is better to have a bird feeder with a roof/top to prevent the seed getting blown away/damp. Or is a feeder like the one Tommy mentioned in the original post just as good or better?
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I have both Janice. I use a flat open feeder, and also have several of the hanging feeders too, like the ones in this Aldi page;

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2867_8795.htm

As for which species are attracted to which type; in the Greenfinch shot above, he always goes for the Niger/Sunflower seed in a hanging feeder (I have placed fir branches into the feeder itself so the birds can land on those), but these hanging feeders also attract most of the other common garden species such as Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Starling etc.

For the flat open feeder, this also tends to attract the species mentioned above, but in addition, one gets Wren, Blackbird, Thrush, Robin, Collared Dove, Pigeon, Maggy etc.

Hope this helps Janice.
 
theMusicMan said:
I have both Janice. I use a flat open feeder, and also have several of the hanging feeders too, like the ones in this Aldi page;

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2867_8795.htm

As for which species are attracted to which type; in the Greenfinch shot above, he always goes for the Niger/Sunflower seed in a hanging feeder (I have placed fir branches into the feeder itself so the birds can land on those), but these hanging feeders also attract most of the other common garden species such as Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Starling etc.

For the flat open feeder, this also tends to attract the species mentioned above, but in addition, one gets Wren, Blackbird, Thrush, Robin, Collared Dove, Pigeon, Maggy etc.

Hope this helps Janice.
Click to expand...

Thanks John. My present bird table is rather knackered and I am umming and arring about another. it has a small roof but that means a short wooden post at each corner which blocks the views of the birds a bit... although it does keep any shredded suet, bird seed etc etc that is on the table ... dry.

Dont know whether to get just a wooden tabletop type, or a metal thing with hooks to hang thingsg from like the aldi one. :thinking:
 
All a matter of personal opinion I guess, but I'd say you would get a broader range of birds with the Vertical one as per the Aldi offer. You get more variation on that too, as you can place a flat feeder on it, as well as multiple hanging feeders for seed, fat etc.
 
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