Saturday 23 March 2013

Gardening Companions...and Homemade Bird Feeders



I'm never alone when I'm gardening; I always have a companion hovering close by waiting for any worms I happen to dig up.  This year I have two companions; first of all, a lovely female blackbird (above) who sits and watches me until I throw her treat (she usually gets a piece of apple). Not that I get any thanks for this, because every year female blackbirds attack the lining of my hanging baskets for nest material and every year my hanging baskets come a bit closer to total collapse...

The other companion I have is a robin (below).  I'm always amazed by how bold robins are; I've known them come into the house as well as eat from my hand.  And they're great opportunists when it comes to worms, often dipping down right by my feet to seize one.













We always want to encourage more birds into the smallholding, so we've been adding more bird feeders and, to save money, we've been making these ourselves. I've mentioned before about converting old car exhausts to bird feeders (after being rescued from a local car mechanic's scrap metal bin) and that these turn out to be stronger than the plastic feeders we've bought in the past...


By converting these, I like to think that a car can actually help the environment for once!

We've also made a low bird table for the robins and other birds that prefer to pick their food from the ground.  This has been made from scrap wood with a fine wire mesh.


And here it is being tested and approved...




We also find that the standard plastic chicken feeders don't last long and so,when the last one broke, we bought a galvanised feeder. But it didn't even reach the chicken pen, because we were inspired to use it for something else altogether - and now the tops of several galvanised feeders have been wired up as light shades in the barn...


 
The barn owl next to the light is a wood carving we bought on holiday as a fun addition to the barn.  At the moment, it's the closest I'm getting to photographing a barn owl, until I can actually take a decent picture of the barn owl I see flying in the next field. 

In the cottage garden patch, it's about time to pull up last year's evening primroses.  They look untidy, but I leave them, because the seeds have been so loved by the goldfinches throughout the winter.  And there are always flocks of different finches each winter in the trees on the edge of the smallholding, so we do get a variety of them on the feeders.

But there's still no sign of any wild birds' nests on the smallholding this year and I'm sure I usually see the first young blackbirds by the end of March.  I haven't heard a chiffchaff yet, either; there's usually one calling in March from the scrub around the smallholding.  I'm guessing that the cold weather is holding everything back here - and so there will be a rush of activity, when the warm weather eventually arrives.

42 comments:

  1. I love your barn owl, and stunning bird pics!
    Last year I didn't clear the borders, mostly because it was too wet to get on the soil. And so we've had goldfinches too. Perhaps I should learn the lesson. They are wonderful to watch.

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    1. I have to leave an untidy patch for them. They are such colourful little birds - and it's lovely to see them in a flock feeding together.

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  2. Beautiful photographs. I'm intrigued as to how you modify the exhaust pipe at the base to make the feeders.

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    1. Well we've taken the top and bottom of an old broken plastic feeder for the top and bottom of the exhaust pipe. The bottom of the exhaust pipe was then hammered out to fit the bottom of the old feeder. They really do make robust feeders, so we're pleased we don't have to keep replacing them now.

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  3. At first glance I thought your barn owl was real.

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    1. Yes, in a half-light in the barn it can sometimes look very real!

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  4. Gorgeous photos of your gardening companions! We have a pair of robins again this year not the same ones as last year as they used to come right down to the patio and sit and wait for their breakfast. We also have a female blackbird who comes in close to wait for food as well as a regular flock of goldfinch. The barn owl is wonderful:)

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    1. Lovely to hear that you have these birds, too. I do love the way blackbirds and robins can become so used to us.

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  5. What a great picture of your Robin friend, and I'm very impressed with your birdfeeders.
    I too had to look twice at the barn owl. That is very lovely.

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    1. I was lucky, the robin stayed very still for my pictures. And the barn owl is beautifully carved, it does come out quite lifelike in photographs.

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  6. Wendy what beautiful pictures. Blackbirds and robins are two of my favourites. Our robin comes into the house, upstairs and down and in a previous house a female blackbird would sit on the edge of a garden chair while you were in it and eventually started hopping into the house as well. I really like your bird feeder ideas, very inspirational - will have to see if we can be as inventive here.

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    1. How wonderful to hear that your own robins and blackbirds have made themselves so at home! I love these birds, too, because they can get so used to you. And we were keen to have feeders without spending the money, so we looked around for scrap.

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  7. What a WONDERFUL post with stunningly beautiful pictures, especially that blackbird and robin.
    I too enjoy the company of the birds when gardening, especially the cheeky robins, like you their boldness is incredible.
    I am impressed with your hand made bird feeders, they actually look better than bought ones, and that lampshade deserves a gold star for ingenuity!!!!

    When I first saw the barn owl carving, I actually thought it was real and suffered a serious pang of jealousy!!! Looking forward to seeing real barn owl pics, I always hear ours and when I see them know I have no chance of a pic, they are so silent and manage to disappear so quickly.xxxxx

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    1. Thank you. I always look out for the blackbird and robin, now, and they're always there watching me back! We're pleased with how our feeders have turned out - and more importantly, the birds are happy with them. I agree about trying to photograph the barn owls; they have that fascinating, silent flight. I'm still hoping for a pic.

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  8. I love this!! I want to someday create a bird paradise in my backyard :)

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    1. Thank you. I love the sound of a bird paradise, Keith.

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  9. Thank you, Wendy, for visiting my blog. Your Blackbird and Robin are delightful friends. The barn Owl is wonderful, too! I hope you get to photograph the feathered kind soon. We have seen two recently, our best sighting near Flatford Mill on the day of the Bird Count!

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    1. Hello Caroline - and thank you. I've enjoyed reading your blog very much. How wonderful that you've seen those barn owls recently; Flatford Mill isn't really that far from me so it's good news to hear there are more in the county.

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  10. I have a 'tame' robin too, they are such great companions and I don't mind sharing worms :)

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    1. Hello; thanks for visiting - I've just had a look at your blog and have enjoyed reading your own stories. It's great to hear that you also have a robin like this. I don't think I'd enjoy my gardening half as much without these birds around me.

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  11. Hello Wendy :-) Thank you so much for visiting my blog recently. You have a very interesting blog here with some great photos too. The Blackbird and Robin photos are lovely. I had a female Blackbird in my garden which was particularly bold and I had to be careful not to step on it while I was gardening! You really had me fooled at first with your Barn Owl :-) How lovely that you see one flying near you, such beautiful creatures! Love the creative bird feeders. I'm off to put myself on your followers now :-)

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    1. Hello - and thank you. I'm glad I found your blog and have enjoyed reading it; I look forward to following back. Lovely to hear about your own female blackbird; they can get very bold. And I just wish I could photograph that barn own.

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  12. What a delight. I wish my robins and blackbirds would be as friendly. I've tried encouraging them but they wait til I move away to investigate what I've been doing. I think I'm just going to have to wait!
    Great idea for car exhausts. I recycled a log into a feeder - I hung it horizontally and the ground feeders use it regularly.

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    1. Well, the blackbird and robin were curious at first, and then became bolder when I threw them food. I love the idea of a recycled log as a feeder; that's given me the idea for one. I'll have a look at the logs we have here.

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  13. What super photos Wendy!
    I often chat to the blackbirds and Robins, unlike our neighbours they don't think I'm weird...
    Great idea with the exhaust pipe, and I just LOVE the groundfeeder.
    Rose H

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    1. It's lovely, isn't it, when the individual birds come so close. I'm very protective of them now. And we're quite keen to make some more feeders, perhaps using other materials.

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  14. Great lamp shades - and I do like the idea of old car exhausts feeding the birds. I too have a robin who likes to accompany me in the garden, and a pair of blackbirds that I think must be nesting nearby are only just behind him when it comes to exploring any earth I have disturbed. I would hate to be without birds in the garden.

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    1. I agree; I'd also hate to be without the birds. It's great to hear that your blackbirds might be nesting; there's definitely no sign of my female nesting yet, although there is a male nearby.

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  15. Stunning pictures of your Mrs Blackbird and robin, and the lamp shades are a wonderful idea! Helenx

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    1. Hello Helen. We're pleased with how the lamp shades look in the barn; now we need to find a new chicken feeder!

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  16. I had to come back and look at these shots today. Your capture of the barn owl is simply amazing!

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  17. Thanks for visiting my blog Wendy, its good to know that we have our garden birds in common and our woodcarving! We too have a very tame female blackbird and robin, we have them for company as soon as we step outside the back door. I too have done a lot of carving, until I retired, I also taught it at night school, but now a muscle problem seems to have stopped it for now unfortunately.

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    1. Hello Pauline. I'm very pleased I found your blog. It's lovely to hear about your own birds. And I'm interested to hear about your woodcarving; I hope you'll be able to resume it again soon.

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    1. Hello Julie - and thank you. The photos on your blog are stunning. We stay near Penzance every year; so I've enjoyed reading your blog very much.

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  19. Some great ideas there Wendy - waste not want not eh! I must say I get very fond of the birds that visit our garden and made sure a neighbour came round to feed them every day whilst we were on holiday. They have had to endure this long winter like we have.

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    1. Yes, it certainly has been a long winter for the birds. I'm still putting out extra food for them - and it's April. I also have others on bird-feeding duties when we go away, I always make sure the food is stocked up for them.

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  20. What wonderful photos! I love the daring of the robins, their boldness always surprises me, especially when they perch on the fork handle right next to me.

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    1. Hello Paula - and thank you. You have some lovely photos on your own blog. I love the way the robins become quite fearless; they quickly learn that it is worth folowing my gardening.

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  21. I think you are right about how late it is for nesting. I have seen our blackbirds gathering material over the last few days but it is still so cold here. Mind you it does mean we are getting a woodpecker to the bird feeders. He tends not to come when the weather is mild but a prolonged cold spell has brought him down every day for the past fortnight.

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    1. Lovely to see the woodpecker - the one benefit for us of cold weather is that it brings in many different birds to the feeders. And I'm pleased to hear your blackbirds are starting to nest; I've still no sign of any nesting birds here, although they are pairing up.

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