bird-bath (ish!)
By franl155
6 comments
Years ago I rescued an old baby bath which had a two-part smaller oval thingy with it – not sure what that’s for, or its proper name. I intended to use the bath as a pond, didn’t have much of an idea of what to use the oval thingy for, but thought it might be useful as a bird bath.
Sadly the bath eventually cracked and a lump broke off (brittle from the sun, I assume), but the oval thingy has been more resilient up to now. I’ve tried it in various places, but now it seems to be okay where it is, at least it’s getting a few visitors.
I raised it above the table to make access easier, and to cover it less – read somewhere that birds are wary of cover, they can’t see what might be coming at them.
The table tilts back – I did this deliberately so that rain would run off, rather than stand in puddles, but I didn’t realise quite how much it tilted till I saw these pics – there’s a very effective spirit level!
I put one big stone in one half, to give birds something to stand on, and three smaller ones in the other half, partly so that they could see the bottom, partly to give them more shallow standing room and partly to decrease the depth – if they want a deeper splash, they can use the other side.
Head some little water-splashing noises couple of days ago, saw a blackbird standing on the rim but I must have startled it because it buzzed off. That’s been the problem: I can’t get near enough to see anything other than them flying off, but so far there’s been a couple of sparrows and a couple of blackbirds (or one of each twice).
Maybe I’ll move it again to somewhere even more open, so they can see further and feel safer to use it – and also try to place it where I can see it from the bedroom window without disturbing them.
Obviously, it’s not big enough to bathe in, except for very small birds (this might more properly be called a drinking-fountain), so I might try using a deeper tray (I’ve got several sizes of cat-litter trays that really come in handy around the garden) and see if that’s any use to them.
7 Jul, 2013
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Comments
I've got another bath (pink, rgh, the only one they had); want to paint it, partly to give it a decent garden clour and partly to help protect it from direct sunlight. I have neough pots and troughs for plants, but a water feature, no matter how slight, is something else
8 Jul, 2013
I made a bird bath with 3 of those concrete foundation block things stood on each other, and a large plant
saucer tied on top with a length of baling string tied
round and through the hole in the block.
The birds used it, I think they could perch on the edge of the plant saucer easily as it was the size to fit their claws.
8 Jul, 2013
got any pics, Diane?? I've got some plastic milk crates, at th emoment i've got three troughs on them, but i could stack them and tie either this or something else on top for them to use - and should give clear access all round (and I should site it where i can get decent pics from the window!)
8 Jul, 2013
the dvd's or cd's hanging might be scaring off the birds I wonder?
10 Jul, 2013
that's a thought - they're anchored top and bottom, rather snugly, so they've not got much room to move (should have fastened them looser for a better light-show, but didn't think of it at the time).
So far there's been blackbird, sparrow and pigeon - at least, those are the ones that I've seen, and which I think is a fair representation of the local bird population. I think it's more me that puts them off, I can't see cleary from even six feet away, and trying to get closer disturbs them.
11 Jul, 2013
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