Hi
Any suggestions on a half-decent, relatively cheap bird-table?
I've just opened one I got from B&Q (£25) and it's a turkey - parts broken or coming apart, naff instructions
It's going back tomorrow (Paisley, near Glasgow)
TIA!
Flynn
Ummm.....make one yourself? You could always take pictures of the B&Q one and measure the bits before you take it back.
A post in the ground with a board on top to put bird feed onto. How you embellish the top and post is your choice. The birds won't care but weather may be a factor. HTH
Nick.
A roof to keep the rain/snow off the food is good too.
I bought one from a market stall. It was actually quite well made compared with the ones I've seen in the likes of B&Q, and cheaper.
However, it would blow over in the wind, so it ended up with bricks balanced on each foot. The feet provided a good launching pad for cats to leap up, and after losing a few birds that way, I decided it had to be higher.
I had a spare 6' aerial mast, which happens to be exactly the same diameter pole as one of those rotary drier things, so I bought a spare post hole for a drier, and mounted the top of the bird table on the post. Also added a couple of pirches (made from a wooden rake handle which had snapped). It's now too high for the cats, and can't blow over in the wind. Not lost any birds since AFAIK.
The table tends to attract larger birds: pigeons, crows, doves, magpies, jays. Small birds sometimes take nuts, but never make extensive use of it. Blackbirds are completely uninterested.
Did have a squirrel which managed to work out how to get up the pole, but I didn't mind that. He was only around for a week or so, and other than that, I hardly ever see any squirrels here. A fox often appears at night, and eats up the nuts the birds have kicked off.
You really need a cat proof support though, as most of the ones I have seen are just a piece of wood. also don't have it in jumping range of a wall, tree or roof or you will end up with fewer birds than now!
Brian
We have one of those feeder poles with squirrel proof feeders hung off it - but we have to contend with squirrels galore and flocks of pigeons; with a normal table, the small birds would get nothing!
Most poles do have a small "table" attachment with them and we sometimes put stuff out but the squirrels and/or pigeons often see it quickly so we don't get many unusual visitors.
Paul DS
I just fastened a gurt slice of oak tree on top of a fence post.
But then I have access to gurt slices of oak tree.
Lots of instructions online. Try Bill Oddie's blog or the RSPB.
Bill's blog is actually fairly interesting though it has been a while since I last visited.
Best to let the birds feed on it as and when. Don't oversupply and let them empty their plates and go elsewhere before you feed them again.
Fallen scraps attract pests.
I was watching to birds on a perch when I heard one ask the other: Can you smell fish?
You might try a different snack for small songbirds. Meal worms and mince-meat scraps.
Blackbirds are very fussy and extremely wary. They prefer to hide in the undergrowth and feed from there.
Rats are a big problem when over feeding takes place and they will get most places a squirrel can. Don't put too much food out at once and leave the table empty fairly often to encourage those that do feed to get on with it.
I just put out enough for everyone!
Not the pair I am feeding.. they sit there waiting for my daughter to get up for work and feed them. If she is late they start making a din to remind her.
They will sit there and munch many meal worms.
Incidentally Wilco do a stainless steel barbecue mesh about a foot square that makes a good bird table when you put a wooden frame around it. They are about 99p and you can drill them if you have a good set of drills (like the lidl ones).
I'm generous, but not that generous. I refill most of the feeders every couple of days in winter as it is. Before we got the squirrel and pigeon proof ones, they were empty before I even got home from work.
Paul DS
Have many bird feeders that are squirrel-proof. Unfortunately, the seeds an nuts spilt on the ground continue to attract squirrels. However, a humane trap has proved very discouraging to the squirrels.
One problem I have yet to solve is how to provide a squirrel- and bigger bird- proof feeder for ground feeding birds such as Robins. All the websites I've looked at - including RSPB - seem to focus on birds that are happy to feed from suspended seed or nut feeders or bird tables.
Richard
I put peanuts out for the squirrels in a separate place away from the bird feeders and they mostly leave the bird areas alone. I've found the tops of my wheely bins are a favoured place for robins, sparrows, blackbirds etc
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