Attracting BIrds to My Garden

[rosy posy]

I have recently moved into a traditional terrace house with a small yard that has neighbours on all sides. I am very keen to encourage birds to the garden and have bought a bird table and regularly put fresh food out, clean water etc. But, no birds! What am I doing wrong?

[ursula62]

It took about 5 weeks before the birds started feeding when I put feeders in the garden. The first ones to try were the sparrows. Now we have a mixture of all sorts of birds - coaltits, bluetits, sparrows, robins,starlings, magpies, doves, pigeons, jays, crows and in the summer we get goldfinches as well as the squirrels shinning up the pole to the birdfeeder! Keep putting the food out and the birds will come - be patient as they are very shy to start with. Now the birds sit on the fence and wait while I fill up the feeders!

[Jomes]

I'll echo the previous answer: they take time to discover the food. For good info check out the rspb website...

[logman]

If you are in a neigbourhood where cats are likely to be present, birds may naturally be warey of potential predators, I think it would be a good idea to start with some good defensive safe-guards, otherwise you may find you are just baiting traps for cats. The RSPB have a good range of products to combat cats, squirrels etc from the song birds, why not give it a google ?

[WendyS]

Be patient. They will come ! We had a similar problem with a new bird table. They don't like anything unusual and take a while to realise it won't harm them. The first bird to arrive was a robin and once the other birds saw him feeding safely the rest of them slowly arrived. Don't put it too near to a patio window. If they are suddenly spooked and need to fly off in a hurry they might panic, fly into the glass and knock themselves out or break their necks. Put a variety of foods on it to tempt them - seeds, fatty oats, grated cheese, suet pellets, chopped apple, sultanas and before long they'll be rewarding you with hours of pleasure. Don't forget that the last week-end in January is Birdwatch week-end where the RSPC encourage us all to go online and record all the birds we see in our garden in one hour. Like Ursula, I find our birds waiting impatiently in the trees every morning for their breakfast. Now they're getting braver and swoop down before I've barely returned to the house.

[paddy_36]

Agree with all the posts so far. Once the birds discover you, they will be regular visitors! Nyjer seed is great for attracting greenfinches and goldfinches. The RSPB site has a shop which offers all the food types - I've found the best ones to be the Hi-energy seed and the Hi-energy no mess, as well as nyjer seed and peanuts. Those ones in feeders, combined with your bird table, should get a good variety of birds coming to your garden. Good luck!http://www.rspbshop.co.uk/products/birds_wildlife/bird_food/1

[espookid]

Hi
Even tho' others have mentioned it the prime reason for the birds relutance is normally the feel safe issue they will not visit a place that looks like they will be trapped unless they are extremely hungry , also they may very well start when the place is quiet , very early in the morning because they need to stock up after the long cold night they also like budgie food which is easily available