I set up my first bird feeder station in June 2018. Sine then I have purchased 87 x 12.75kg Suet To Go Wild Bird Pellets in Berry Recipe. When I first started off I had 4 straggly starlings that visited. I now have 2 blackbird and blue tit families, 4 families of robins, lots of house sparrows and 1 gold finch family. My starlings have expanded from 4 to over 30. As I am disabled and spend a lot of time in bed I get lots of enjoyment watching them enjoy their food and grow into healthy adults from my window.
I moved on to buying the Suet To Go Berry recipe after purchasing a cheaper version via Amazon which I found to be dry and crumbly, so there was lots of waste as the birds wouldn’t eat it. The Suet To Go version is more expensive but it doesn’t melt in the sun or crumble. It is high in energy - all the birds that visit are healthy and full of life. The pellets are easy to handle I just use a scoop and pour into a feeder or on to their feeding tray. I certainly have noticed an increase in the amount and variety of birds in my garden since I started using the pellets. The pellets contain human grade ingredients - beef suet, wheat, starch, peanuts, additives are berry flavour and red colouring. The pellets are a very bright pinky red which definitely catches the bird’s attention. The pellets also have a berryish sweet scent. They are a great nutritious complimentary food for wild birds all the year round.
The birds are also given peanuts and sunflower hearts as well as the pellets but the pellets are always the first to go! I always have a back up box so I don’t run out especially in Winter and Spring when food isn’t as plentiful. I put the pellets in a ground feeder mesh tray which is on a picnic table as the blackbirds and dove pigeons prefer this and heavy seed feeders that are hung from the station. I did try using suet pellet feeder but they turned their beaks up at that and wouldn’t use them. They always have access to fresh water and a bird bath. Spring/ Summer is a great time to start using a bird feeder station as the fledglings are being cared for by their parents so they bring their babies to the feeders and show them what to do and then they are looking for new homes, so a freshly stocked feeder is bound to attract some young birds.
I purchased the item myself and the views expressed are my own.
As a keen gardener, leaving nutritious bird food out for our local birds is high on my To Do list, but we've never made our own. Bookmarking this for future reference, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea to have in the garden and glad to hear that with the change of food you have seen more birds coming back! Need to build one in my future garden x
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I love the idea of having one like this in the garden. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea products like this existed. I assumed that seeds were the only bird feeder product on the market. So it's nice to know other products exist
ReplyDelete