Feeding the birds on an old table!

I agree with you,Chris.even if I put some bird food on the ground as well,for certain birds,the cats find it first !so Feeders are still my best bet.The good news is,I have finally found a feeder that the Collared doves and pigeons can't get a foothold on ! It was well worth the price :o) xx

We’ll continue to put seeds in a hanging feeder. Monty’s table was great, but we immediately thought “he can’t have squirrels in his garden!” We see black squirrels as well as greys every day here, but they’ve given up trying to climb up to the bird feeder 🙂.

I agree with you both. Having put mixed seed, then Niger seed out in the feeders for some years I finally gave up as so much began growing in the lawn and flower borders. These days it's Sunflower hearts only in our feeders! Goldfinches, Sparrows and Robins love them . . . :o)

he mustn't have rats either!
we have a home made bird table as well as hanging feeders to reduce the impact of squirrels. Not spotted any rats since the neighbours removed their decking after finding 2 adult rats in their kitchen [they forgot to put the mesh in to keep the rats from getting underneath].

I find slugs also climb up and eat the food which I have in a tall raised wire flower basket as well as the feeder stuck on glass window. I have a photo proof!!! taken on day at crack of dawn.

Some nice pictures of the trees wildrose, I saw montys table and thought it would be a good idea, so I just have to have ago, this I will do in the mother-in-law’s garden as squirrels are seldom seen, it’s funny the lady next door to her as so many bird feeders and she has so many different birds coming in , I love to see the jackdaws , so I thought we need some action in the mother-in-law’s and not to be out done I brought a largish round feeder that was filled with peanuts etc, this was several weeks ago and and it’s still full, drat I feel a little down heartened.

Cheer up Julien you can't win 'em all...

We were the same as you Shirley,the Niger seedlings were just awful to keep digging out of the border under the Feeders,and the Goldfinches didn't go for them anyway.which are advertised as being ideal for them.not in my garden they weren't ! We threw more away,than they ate,as they just turned into a soggy mess in no time..Sunflower hearts are definitely top of the menu,for most of our smaller birds.Fat Balls,and mealworms,a close second....and sorry,big birds,you will have to forage elsewhere now :o(

Sandra, those Niger seeds had a nasty niff too! I did laugh this morning when I saw Goldfinches having a good feed of the Sunflowers hearts ... while a huge Pigeon looked on ... unable to perch on the feeders as far too big!

I think I’ll just be carrying on with my hanging feeders as before.
I don’t have a big garden, I think a table would look out of place here. Plus, we get the odd rat coming to the garden - I hate to think of making it too easy for them. 😁

Thank you everyone. Seems we have a preference for the traditional approach on here!!
Hope you all see lots of birds in your gardens over the coming months.

As everyone else has said, I will stick with hanging feeders. Most gardens are accessed by a rat or two, even if they're not obvious. They were very obvoius in one garden when I was ground feeding, so we stopped.
I think the Monty 'bird section' was just a gimmick to fill up a slot. It looked picturesque but my birds would gobble up the amount he sprinklrd about in an hour or so. We use sunflower hearts, mixed seed, peanuts and mealworms. The pigeons and goldfinches polish off any seeds which are dropped.

I agree as well Chris the birds wouldn't stand a chance of a feed with all the pigeons ,squirrels etc.

Wish. I'd seen the whole of Gardeners World, must have fallen asleep as usual!

I didn't see it, so not sure what you are all on about, must have a look on catchup, I do eventually watch all of them during the winter, lol,....
However, I do feed the birds all the time, birdtables, feeding stations, my trees, patio walls, in fact anywhere the birds like to feed from, even go as far as throwing food onto my shed roof, my terrier I adopted last year hates the pigeons, chases them away, poor things don't get away as fast as the other birds and I'd hate her to catch one, we don't have any squirrels, so they don't have to compete with them...Lovely autumn colours W'rose and I also like your feeding station.

I agree with everyone Chris who wants to just keep feeders! We have about 30 sparrows come to feed every day plus gold finches if the sparrows will let them! Unfortunately only the occasional robin and blue tit!
What is the tree on the right on the second picture Chris?
Take care and keep safe! xx

Rose it is a Cornus, the leaves are fast disappearing now!

Which Cornus is it Chris as I have three but none of them with autumn leaves like yours?

We don't remember Rose. Sorry x

Yeh! We will continue to hang ours so the squirrels can’t get them too easily.