As I’ll be writing about birdwatching from time to time, I thought that I should write first about my own back yard.  Literally!

I have eight feeders in my back garden, kept regularly stocked with feed such as sunflower hearts, sunflower seeds, niger seeds, high energy seed mix, peanuts, fat balls, fat cake, meal worms and fat pellets.

These attract a wide range of birds, often in large numbers.  The garden is rarely empty during daylight.

The birds that I commonly get in the garden are: House Sparrows, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Willow Tits (or Marsh Tits – I can’t tell which they are), Siskins, Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins, Collared Doves, Wood Pigeons, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Jays, Magpies and recently a Jackdaw.  I have a Rook scarer (well – it’s an old CD hanging from the Cherry Tree) and without it, I’d have a large number of Rooks attacking the fat balls every morning from sunrise!  I’ve had a Moorhen visit regularly for a couple of years, but not this year. Maybe the border has overgrown too much. I have also once had a Sparrow Hawk in the garden, but only the once.

So that’s what’s in my garden.  It gives hours of pleasure and costs a fortune, but it’s one of my little hobbies!

iangraydon