I can't - rats!

Me too. The greater spotted woodpecker loves the suet blocks. Long tailed tits and a robin and loads of sparrows come for all the other food. Plus wood pigeons and magpies.

I cannot get away from not feeding them I have a hedge outside the kitchen window on the other side of my garden and all the sparrows sit on the top looking in the window and chattering. Gill mysister was amazed at how many the other week when she visited. Its like a tenement block that hedge.

You know you can get food cages that let the little birds in and keep the bigger ones out ^^

I cant not feed them-they help themselves to my chooks food and water.My garden is usually like a scene from springwatch.

Only birds I see here are huge black ones Given my fear of birds I'm not encouraging them onto my balcony I'm afraid!

And I now have the feed the birds song from Mary Poppins stuck in my head

Yes do it all year but tend to give them 2 or 3 lots of seed when cold and always have big fatballs up and always have fresh water out if lucky they get a warm bath ! today i saw 2 cyrl buntings , lots of chaffinches , jackdaws woodpigeons , doves, 2 x robins lots of different sparrows that nest in a big bush in the garden ,thrush , blackbirds and tits of various types the odd magpie and squirell. And to think when we got the first feeding station we didn't have any birds ! I do love watching them and our dogs like eating the seed thats dropped.....

Yes, but we don't seem to get much interest. There are a couple of blackbirds, a robin, a magpie and wood pigeons. The big ones knock all the food onto the ground and Madlad Loki knows this so goes straight to the bird table. So much for a grain-free diet!

Yes we feed them at work! Typical early morning here:

http://youtu.be/R9S8XTg_65E

A wide variety of birds then. We also have a woodpecker visit regularly, and they do nest nearby.

Cirl buntings - I thought they were only found in the SW? Would certainly be a life tick for me!

Helen

Aaaqaargh! same problem here. We don't feed the birds all year round as we've had serious rat problems in the past, but when the ground is frozen and/or snow covered I can't not feed the poor little things.

Trouble is, it's mainly starlings that come down (last year when we had the bad snow, I was seeing flocks of 20-30 coming in every afternoon, they must have been so hungry).

We do have blackbirds, a few tits, a robin and a wren occasionally but they have NO chance of getting up on the table, the starlings always come and knock them away.

I've been trying to scatter some nibbed peanuts, suet pellets and dried mealworms in unobtrusive places under the shrubs for them, as they prefer to feed in cover....

BUT I have a Hoovering dog who knows there's food out there and is asking to go out about a million times a day Two million actually, because he hears when the starlings come in to feed, and wants to tell them to bog off!

Have been busy making 'bird cake' with all kinds of delicacies and melted lard to put out. The last ones I made in margarine tubs and put string through them so they can be tied to the latticework of the wrought iron garden table - starlings would knock them off otherwise.

The next ones will be made in tin cans, hoping I can squeeze them out once set, and put in the hangers.... the blue tits might have a fighting chance then!