Tits In The Garden!

[AdnamsGirl]

Lots of birdie activity here in the garden. I don;t know about a shortage of sparrows ... I think we have them all in our hedgerows here! I love this time of year when everything is coming to life and the hedges are filled with chattering birds. I haven't been as active as usual trying to photograph them, but this was one of my favourite tit shots  ... steady ... from a few years ago.

 

Carol

 

[BroadAmbition]

We feed our feathered friends regularly Macie dog keeps the garden a cat free zone. She is quite happy to be close to them but if a pigeon comes close she goes bonkers   A couple of years ago I had a pigeon and a sparrow hawk flew inside our conservatory, that was a close encounter of the feathered kind

Griff

[MauriceMynah]

If Macie had joined in, that would have been an 'encounter of the furred kind'.

[SEAMASTER]

I normally use the dripping from the Sunday roast to make my own bird feed. Fat with sunflower seeds and peanuts in old yogurt pots with a length of string knotted to a a plastic washer on the bottom. They don't seem to last long the birds love them and it's so cheap to do. My grandson reckons I should take them on dragons den. I've only just started to get starlings back in my garden. Bacon rind they seem to enjoy. 

[Vaughan]

My mother used to cut an old brown loaf in half and hollow out the breadcrumbs. This she would mix with milk to soften it and cooking fat or dripping, plus chopped bacon rind and whatever else was handy. She would then stuff this back into the half loaf and hang it upside down in the garden. The tits could hang upside down on the edge of the loaf and get at it, but larger birds couldn't. Usually lasted about 10 days. Mind you there were no squirrels on the island then.

[SEAMASTER]

Just now, Vaughan said:

My mother used to cut an old brown loaf in half and hollow out the breadcrumbs. This she would mix with milk to soften it and cooking fat or dripping, plus chopped bacon rind and whatever else was handy. She would then stuff this back into the half loaf and hang it upside down in the garden. The tits could hang upside down on the edge of the loaf and get at it, but larger birds couldn't. Usually lasted about 10 days. Mind you there were no squirrels on the island then.

Vaughan that was days when bread was proper bread and lasted. Not like this bread what goes stale after a day. My mother use to do the same stuffing the old loaf out. I have Squirrels to I feed them on the bigger feeder and they don't butcher the small ones now. Little sods they was. But great to watch.

[thingamybob]

When feeding birds and freshwater waterfowl we should remember that any food containing salt is bad for them as the salt damages their gut. a loaf of bread contains around two teaspoons of salt so bread should not be fed to birds, although as we know, they will eat it voraciously

I have in the past been guilty of this due to not being informed. The best and cheapest way to feed birds is to use the large sacks of bird seeds usually available at some farm shops. If making your own fat balls it is best to use something like salt free lard. Bacon is not good at all due to the high salt content.

I really do not know why people feed waterfowl with bread, there is plenty of natural food in the river and on the bankside. Indeed, there is a riverside park in North East London where the Local Authority has put up notices asking visitors not to feed the wildfowl and birds with bread due to the high salt content. 

[grendel]

giving good dripping to the birds - shame, at my parents there was the dripping bowl in the fridge, periodically the fat was lifted and the stock underneath rescued for soups, but the dripping on top was scraped and spread on some bread with a small pinch of salt, yummy.

[thingamybob]

Just now, grendel said:

giving good dripping to the birds - shame, at my parents there was the dripping bowl in the fridge, periodically the fat was lifted and the stock underneath rescued for soups, but the dripping on top was scraped and spread on some bread with a small pinch of salt, yummy.

Yes Grendel, I remember that well from my younger days. I always mixed a bit of the dripping with the black goo underneath and spread it on bread or toast and yes, with some salt.

Unfortunately, that sort of stuff is only for an occasional treat for me due to health issues. However, I was born not long after the war and rationing was in place so we had to use every scrap of food to keep healthy and survive. The birds did not get a scrap of food but they still survived.

Grendel, my mouth is now watering and I have a craving for dripping on toast!

Talk about thread drift!

[addicted]

Wheever I make pastry, I roll the trimmings of raw pastry left over in to little balls and put them on the bird table.  They're gone in a flash. Also any left over Yorkshire pudding torn into scraps  is a big favourite

 

 

 

Carole

[DaveB]

.....left over Yorkshire pudding!!!!!! there aint no such animal