UKC

I get loads of sparrows in my pleasant rural garden. What can I do to attract other birds?

In reply to Purple: good quality fat balls, and position well

In reply to Purple: To be honest we had to get rid of the sparrows as they drove everything else away. Once they'd gone everything came back!

In reply to 1step2far: strange, we have a resident troop of sparrows and still get plenty of variety, and how do you get rid?

In reply to dale1968:

...without the mesh...

In reply to 1step2far:

tree and house sparrows have both suffered serious declines in population over the last 30 years or so to the extent both are on the risk list in the UK.

for OP: mix and match food. peanuts/fat balls/ seeds etc.

In reply to dale1968:

Our fat balls tend to get ignored.

In reply to dale1968: We didnt do it intentionally... we had to cut back the bush they had colonised. There was over 100 of them and they used to dive bomb the other birds! As soon as they had moved on the others came straight back!

In reply to Purple: Have bird table plus 5 feeders split between nuts and sun flower seeds. Also have several drinking stations made from plant pot saucers - doubles as bird bath!

Sparrows are in decline so have a mini flock is not a bad thing.

Davey

In reply to ebygomm: Birds are not daft, they will go for the better high energy balls, or It could be they dont feel safe

In reply to Purple:

Heaps of info here on the RSPB website:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/index.aspx

In reply to dale1968:

They eat everything else, just ignore the fat balls.

In reply to 1step2far:

Are you sure? Most birds just reappear at different times - there's little actual displacement.

And how did you get rid of them?! Poor things - their numbers are in decline too

In reply to Bulls Crack: Trust me this was more than seasonal diplacement! The blue tits were dive bombed by them!

Has anyone tried window feeders? I'm a bit dubious as to whether they'd get used, but a friend swears by them.

In reply to Purple:

tits like coconuts

In reply to Purple:

The garden is a bit bleak at the moment due to predation from domestic cats and a sparrow hawk.

No tits on my fat balls.

In reply to Purple:

We have a red kite visits garden. Likes tuna chunks cat food.

In reply to Purple: a table is good for the larger bird- the blackbirds have been liking my apple and pastry waste..

In reply to Bulls Crack:

yeah, pretty harsh to pick on sparrows for bullying.

Do house sparrows and tree sparrows mix?

I've done my RSPB survey and can say there are x amount of sparrows but not how many are house and how many are tree. If I saw 3 tree sparrows can I assume that the rest are tree sparrows too?

In reply to subalpine:

Greenfinches seem much more aggressive than spuggies.

In reply to Purple:
My parents (in Harrogate) have also somehow attracted a red kite into their garden. Funnily enough once that's looming in the area, all the other birds clear off! Perhaps the birds are being scared off by cats or something?

In reply to richard_hopkins:


Strange , because people in the know insist that red kites will not predate on other birds. Perhaps your parents' garden birds know something that the experts don't.

In reply to Tom Valentine:
Perhaps the smaller birds are not threatened per se, just go somewhere else where there are easier pickings!

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Red Kites are carrion birds and generally won't go for anything that will fight back, worms are probably about as adventurous as they get. They've got small talons that aren't well adapted for predating live animals.

Other birds will still mob them and the smaller ones will still see it as a threat hence the reason they bugger off. I don't think they can distinguish between them and other predators such as Sparrowhawks, Peregrines etc.

Put out a ground feeder, get some good seed - I tried that Peckish and within 30 mins I had long tailed tits, gold finches and coal tits. The next morning I had the local pheasant too.

I don't get much interest in kitchen scraps, peanuts or fat balls. Meal worms are loved by Robins.

In reply to everyone;

Thanks folks for the advice. I'll not be bumping off any Sparrows then, but I'll be trying out the various top tips.

Cheers.