ALARMING........

I have a feeder station which has an open mesh tray, which robins like feeding off, but then squirrels and pigeons come in and clear it up. The feeder station is set up about 2m from shrubs and trees. The other feeders are in the the other tree.
I do put feed in under the bush for ground feeding birds with raisins for the black birds, which gets mopped up. It's the hanging feeders that are getting little attention.

Rusty

 

Your pole feeder @rustyroots is the same as the one I have.

What might help is to move the pole a little further down the garden and put it a little bit more into the middle of the lawn.I have mine set up so that it is quiet tall so that cats can't jump up and grab the birds trying to feed.The mesh basket and the fat ball holder needs to be further up the pole but if you have had it in the garden for any length of time then the wing nuts on the fixtures may be too solid to move.

Your pole looks quiet short to me as mine with the spike pushed down into the clay is nearly six feet tall,yours does look shorter.

Also as you look like you have had a frost overnight the nuts could be frozen together if you rain all day like we had.

Try that for starters and see how you get on and please let us know if it has worked or not.

 

Also there may be more people feeding the birds, so less birds to go round
Our birds numbers have picked up a bit and there is only 3 people feeding here so i think bird numbers here are down on last year

 

When we first moved here 15 years ago there were no birds visiting the garden and I was thinking what a mistake we had made,but I kept putting out the nuts,seed and fat balls but still no birds.I must have spent a small fortune on the stuff which I had to keep chucking away as it was starting to rot in the holders

We went away that Xmas/New Year and when we got home I saw some bird footprints in the frost on the paths so it built my hopes up.Gradually the birds did come and we have even had visits from a Waxwing, Goldcrests,Fieldfares,Long Tailed Tits and Great Spotted Woodpeckers,oh and we often get a Sparrowhawk flying through the garden taking out the odd sparrow and my baby Robin last summer

For the last twelve years we have had Blue Tits nesting in my bird box which is nice I am the only one in my lane that goes to the effort of feeding the wildlife so they know where to come to build up their fat reserves.I am now up to 55 House Sparrows as they know where to come for a quick meal so tend to have a few nests a year which has built up the numbers

So don't give up as I am sure they will come to your garden especially when we start to get the snow

 

I must say we have started getting more birds coming into our gardening, think its the cold snap we have had.

Blue Tits
Long tailed Tits
Great Tits
Coal Tits
Wren
Bullfinchs
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Robin
Magpie
Jay
Wood Pigeon
Starlings
House Sparrows
Blackbird
Dunnock

What I'm feeding is, sunflower hearts, fat balls (not in nets), suet blocks, bruised fruit, dried mealworms and fresh water.

 

I only feed Niger seed and sunflower hearts, main species I get is goldfinch obviously, i do see the odd blue tit great tit greenfinch on the feeders,

In and around the garden/under the feeders i get Robin Blackbird Doves Pigeon Dunnock Wren and a few mice,

Plenty of Sparrows Starlings round here, ive noticed a few neighbours feed them .

 

Loads here. Since the willow den started to mature, it supports a lot of insects. That means the small birds go and have a look. Not many insects this time of year, unless there are eggs or somet, but I still get to see lots of beautiful tits in the garden.

 

I've noticed there's a lot less smaller birds this year than last in my garden, I think me and Betty are the only ones who feed them, haven't seen any feeders about in our bit of the estate.

There was a collard dove - nowhere to be seen, 2 robins - just one this year, there was a Mr and Mrs blackbird - down to 1 widowed blackbird, there was at least 5 coal tits - max I've seen is 2, very few Dunnocks (which I thought were sparrows last year ) few less crows and the usual magpies. But!! I have seen a bird I have never seen in my life before and I'm quite sure it was a bullfinch, sooo pretty and really caught my eye with its bright pink chest. I'm no twitcher!

Just a thought.. it might be down to the bird flu going about? ... it's not and they've found some other food source

 

Mealsworms (dried) are like crack cocaine to my hens! They go absolutely mental for the stuff and can sniff out a mealworm from a sealed packet before I've even parked the car!!
For garden birds, the trick is to rehydrate them Well, think about it ... do *you* want to munch on a packet of dried pasta?

This is why I have had to give up on my bird feeding station; I'm sure it isn't simply mice visiting but Mr Long Tail too. Ozzy goes absolutely crazy around the feeding station when he's let out at night to relieve his bladder. Of course, I keep hens too, so that just doubles the chances of rodents I suppose? So, no feed in the feeding station, but ... to compensate, I do have berries and hips around the garden so they get nature's harvest and in the old suet block holder, I stuff it with Ozzy's under down so they have waterproof, soft, insulating hair to line their nests with.

 

There are some fab photo's of bullfinches (taken by @strongylodon ) in this thread @Linz ... take a peek because you might be able to identify the ones you saw from those photos.

 

I monitor what comes below them now M, you will be surprised how many mice turn up, no sign of any rats here though, had them in the past, I will buy an air rifle if any rats turn up again,

A mouse feeding now, there was a mouse fight last night, i presume over territory, some appear to tolerate each other others don't.

 

Thanks @"M" It was a bullfinch! Have invested in more bloody bird feed too just in case he appeared again but he hasn't been back! Really caught my eye, such a lovely bird and was too quick for me to get a pic!

 

Hi Linz, yes there a lovely bird, only ever seen one in our garden he never came back, think they like black sunflower seeds.

My brothers next door neighbour gets them every day, lucky sod