This article first appeared in the June 2025 Edition of Birdwatching Magazine
We do what we must to survive… Strategies are more ‘built in’ to birds than to us, but behaviour does change – back in the day when milkmen delivered foil-top bottles to your door, Blue Tits found they could peck through to the fat-rich cream at the top. Sadly, they don’t get the chance anymore and would find screw-cap supermarket cartons a whole new ball game.
This year I’ve needed all my energy just to survive the cold – having moved to the southeast coast a quarter century ago for cheap housing and warmer winters. Those first winters had no frosts; the first decade only two snow-sprinkled days. This year has had as many cold days as all the others put together, and when not colder than a penguin’s feet, its been blowing a wet gale.
Nothing stops Starlings from emptying my suet feeders before other birds get a look-in. Fat feral pigeons don’t even try, they sit under the feeders vacuuming up whatever falls. Woodpigeons are clever enough to try, but too heavy to succeed, so they search the ivy for missed berries.
Ever-adaptable House Sparrows grab what they can while dodging Starlings’ punishing beaks. The tits and finches shun the suet, sticking to sunflower hearts. Goldfinches sometimes stuffing themselves long enough to need a nap, still clinging to the feeder perches.
Lately a pair of Jays try their luck… I think its no accident that their weight pulls the suet feeder tube from its hanging lid, when they then hop down to snaffle the spilt suet.
The real revelation for me is a young male Blackbird. He sits on the shed roof waiting for the House Sparrows to land with their starling-dodged suet prizes. No enjoying their spoils because the Blackbird pecks at the sparrows’ heads making them release the suet, which it gobbles down. It beats trying to hover at feeder perches designed for smaller feet.
Until it broke, we used to hang apples from a washing line for the Ring-necked Parakeets. Now, we stick apples in the fork of the dead bush the feeders hang from, hoping for passing winter thrushes and not minding if the parakeets have a nosh. I love the way they reject the peel which ends up as a heap beneath.
This year, before parakeets found the apple, a stunning male Blackcap got stuck in. Not only was he still coming back a month later, but so were two ‘brown caps’… They happily joined the adult male, but could not tolerate each other.
In the middle of February, a Great-spotted Woodpecker found the suet feeders. Just one visit, but I live in hopes that he memorised it for his weekly circuit. Its been several years since a pair would come together.
Of course, it’s not just the birds that branch out when the weather is against them. Three nights ago, Mr Fox stopped by. I think it’s the same one who took vengeance on my bushes when we started blocking his route. Must be holding a grudge as he took great pleasure digging up my lily bulbs and rooting out my perennials. So far, he’s ‘mullered’ half a flowerbed and dug a hole under my shed. If my garden was bigger than our master bedroom I’d turn a blind eye, but the space is not big enough to share. We had to stop scattering the planters with mealworms each night for the Robins and Dunnocks breakfasts. The snuffled soil showed us why he thought our postage stamp plot worth the effort of climbing the ivy and topping the ‘catproof’ fence!
