Garden Birds. Tweet Tweet

[chips with everything]

Morning everyone, up before 6.00 and sun was hot then Phew ! Just topped up my birdbath with clean water and they are all diving in as I type. Drinking and bathing. So funny to watch. New batch of young and mums are taking little ones scoops of water in their bills. They really need it on a day like today if no water near, so why not think about putting some out in a shallow bowl or roasting tin. Don't put on the ground if you have cats around. I love my birds Tweet Tweet. Have a great weekend. chips xx

 

[Lorny]

I'm a twitcher, as is my partner. EFFING LOVE BIRDS!!! We used to put water, scraps, all sorts out for our little birdy friends, but in our flat we don't have the garden, so we're not allowed in. We've mentioned to them about it, and they have a bird bath now, but I don't know if they put water in!

 

[chips with everything]

Morning all chipsters. Morning all twitchers ! as in our feathered friends, not those unlucky enough to be inflicted with an involuntary nervous tick !

They say it's going to be 32 degrees today which is nearly into the 90s. Please put water out for garden birdies in a shallow container in a safe shaded area and keep topping up. They really need it for drinking and bathing in this weather and here I have a load of newly fledged sparrows and starlings. Seasons have been so strange this year. Everything is all over the place ! Hope you're all enjoying the sunshine. chips xx

 

[Clover89]

Ur post made me think about all the animals in this hot weather, a bowl for the birds is in place! Xx

 

[chips with everything]

Ur post made me think about all the animals in this hot weather, a bowl for the birds is in place! Xx

So simple to make a difference. Last few days I have been spraying the outside of the nesting boxes with cool water to keep yet another brood of baby sparrows cool. Upsetting last night. Young fully fledged sparrow obviously left nest too early as couldn't fly. Stuck in a deep planter. Picked him up, soft fluffy and I could feel his little heart. Put him in a safe hanging birdtable which has mesh round to stop big birds getting at food. Gave him some water from biro case, then sat outside until dusk to protect him from magpies. Even missed Jesse Pavelka

Another thought, when I lived in the city centre and now although more rural, as I am on a dog walking route I always put a large bowl of water outside in the lane for doggies. Also when you are out shopping, watch out for dogs left in cars. My little old rescue Daze hates being left and loves the car, but is much safer indoors in this weather. Read a dog can go into heart failure in minutes, even if windows open, as no air circulating. Terrible thought. Off to post my 1lb loss on my Chips with Everything is back thread. Deserved more this week as I have been angelic :angel09:, but hey ho, heading in the right direction Be good all. chips xx

 

[Lorny]

Wow, chips. It's lovely to see someone so into animals! I'm doing a degree with a view to work with British wildlife. It makes me excited when people go out of their way to help. x

 

[chips with everything]

Wow, chips. It's lovely to see someone so into animals! I'm doing a degree with a view to work with British wildlife. It makes me excited when people go out of their way to help. x

Wish more people did, simple things make all the difference. Call me eccentric but I have post-it notes stuck on my windows to help stop birds trying to fly through them when light reflecting. Haven't had a casualty since. Windows a necessity but other reflective surfaces don't belong in gardens, mirrors & stainless steel are deadly for birds. I actively campaign against the sale of them by big companies. Even RHA & Chelsea had designers cover them up. I put tall green plastic mesh around flower beds to stop next doors cat ambushing ground feeding birds. Made my bird table about a yard square and placed under tree feeders to catch bits and it really has worked to save ground birds like blackbirds & robins who now feed off table rather than on "The Killing Fields" well OK, Lawn Cat had loads of birds including a robin which used to sit on my thumb and eat seed from my hand :cry:She has 2 old ones who are lovely and no trouble but she took in this part feral young hunter.

If people used more environmentally friendly products and avoided slug pellets which have virtually killed of song thrushes the world would be a better place. Nature needs all the help it can get. Good to see RSPB advertising on prime time TV creating awareness in youngsters on what they can do. :soapbox: Thats enough ! Off to cool mist my Sparrow Terrace Nesting Boxes again. Made mistake of putting them where they get lots of sun, will move to side in Autumn. Won't be able to see and enjoy feeding time, but they will be safer. Tweet Tweet chips x

 

[chips with everything]

Eeeh, It's like Springwatch out in my back garden One family of sparrow chicks just left the box and are all in the bird bath which has just been cleaned and topped up with cool water. Soooo funny to watch. Another brood ready to leave any time now. The mum who seems to be feeding them on her own, never stops. She works so hard, not just taking food, but beaks of water to them. So Nice to watch. Have a good day, and weekend. Can't believe it's Friday again tomorrow. Be good all. chips xx

 

[sammi.g]

i too have a lot of birds in and around the garden, my favourite being the two wood pigeons who make their lovely owl type noise, and i watch them together all the time either in the big tree snuggling down for the night or sitting on the electricity wire above the house, but for the last few days one has been missing and im really upset as the other one isnt making the beautiful noise without its mate, hope it is alive and comes back. i will put out a bird bath now my cat has died, i do have homemade fat balls hanging in the trees which the sparrows and resident robin love but my silly neighbour has been trimming back all the bushes with his electric hedge trimmer where they nest and havent seen them for the week since :/ i also have a wire bird feeder with peanuts in it but i havent seen one bird on it (or last yr) do u know why this could be ? the worst thing that happened birdwise was the doves two yrs ago made their nest on my horizontal tv ariel on the back of the house, it was a really windy day and a baby almost with adult feathers must have fallen out of the nest and my dog appeared at the patio doors with it in his mouth wagging his tail, i screamed but it had died from shock i think the other chick i put up in the hazel tree using a teatowel but never saw it again

 

[chips with everything]

Hi Sammi, re feeder, clean it out with boiling water (never use bleaches etc in feeders or baths) and only ever put a few inches of nuts in feeder. If they dont get eaten, change them. My fat balls with buggy nibbles are going at an alarming rate, seed and nuts have slowed down. I love wood pigeons too. The other day, one as big as a turkey was on the lawn. I let Daze my little blind rescue dog out. She was about a yard away from it. They looked at each other (you know the way a pigeons head sort of turns right round like that girl in the Exorcist) then carried on ambling down the garden together, with the pigeon turning and looking at Daisy as if they were having a talk. Really funny.

I am amazed collar necks survive at all, they always build nests in windy, silly places, but are doing better than most birds. Starlings and sparrows both on red endangered list. Here is Daze, she's lovely. See you went to Glastonbury. I was at the first ever back in 1973 I think it was when everyone got a bottle of milk given to them ! Went many years after that. HeyHo. The good old days! chips x

 

[sammi.g]

ive been out today and wood pidgeon is still on his own they have been here for yrs, i dont know how long they live, do you ? we have loads of starlings around here, hundreds used to descend when i had a grapevine and the purple sh** all over my washing lol, but i love watching them when they do there syncronised flying over the pier in late summer, stunning

gosh hahhaha no free milk anymore , you can still buy it though off of the tractor every morning, ive been going for about ten yrs now and love it x

i shall do what you said with the bird feeder, i save all my crumbs and old sultanas etc for bird balls, they seem to love it & i put out left over rice but the rooks seem to come down for that and chicken skin etc x

 

[sammi.g]

awww daze is really cute, this is ralph who is also a rescue, he's 8 now and is baking himself on these boiling hot steps as per usu

 

[Lorny]

Daze is gorgeous! I just have two guineas. I used to have a yorkie but he got ill with anti-freeze poisoning (God knows how), and had to be put to sleep. I always tell people to wash their little doggy's paws after walks, even if they haven't been wet!

I'd post a picture of my girls, but they're really not tame at all. The eldest is a grump and taught the baby to be just the same, regardless of handling.