Sounds lovely.

I'm not sure about the fat balls, I hadn't heard that before, I'll try and find out - don't want to make any of them poorly

We have stopped feeding the birds because Pepsi the hoover eats whatever is spilt on the floor and with her dodgy tum we can'y afford to let that happen

A local wildlife expert here reckons birds will only feed their young what it is safe for them to eat, Mum knows best, so there is no need to restrict what you put out for them.

Well it seems I am wrong after Googling, but a bird loving friend of mine told me years ago not to put the fat out in the summer, she's on the Springwatch website so maybe she picked it up on there?

Anyhoo, what I did learn is, they love dog food, so tomorrow when I open a tin, the birds can have some too!
I saw a little mousey last night running out from under the hedge for some grapes, but I won't tell Dave coz they get into his workshop! If I see a rat, I'm stopping again though coz living out here in the countryside, you just can't odds it leaving food out there overnight.

I do not feed the birds.

A lot! Get through tonnes of the stuff, and there's definitely no squirrels etc.

Thanks for the links. No cheaper though. xxxxx

I can relate to that The first summer we moved into our house we started feeding the birds, we were hanging fat balls in the netting in the trees for the birds. I hung a couple up one day and a few moments later I went past, the fat ball was no longer in the tree but Max was stood there with his eyes a bit watery, like he was going to be sick Cue a phone call to the vets to say I was sure he had eaten it, but more worryingly, the netting as well. The vets advised me just to keep a close eye on him. I know that he had the fat ball because his next poop was full of seeds I have no idea what happened to the net, I guess it just disintegrated over time as 6 years later there is still no sign of it...