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Bird feeder or bath, view from kitchen window

JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
in Wildlife gardening
Hi all,

In my quest to engage the family in the garden, I’m thinking that something to attract wildlife that can be seen from the kitchen might inspire. I know my wife likes to see wildlife so perhaps a bird feeder or bath that can be seen from the kitchen in these colder months when they don’t go outside would be good.

The RSPB have these plastic ones that stick to the window itself:
https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/window-feeders/window-bird-feeder.html

Or these tall tall ones that I could stand on the terrace, but I don’t think they’d survive the winds and would get in the way in spring:

https://www.primrose.co.uk/peckish-supreme-garden-bird-table-p-113706.html?cPath=1191_13201

A more all year year round feature for me would be something tall with a wide stone base, maybe a bird bath or water fountain?

Also, is having something so close to the house going to put them off?
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  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,544
    We have a 4m wide terrace behind our house and beyond that someone has covered a large area with chunky stones.  Think gravel gone wrong.

    I tried a wooden bird feeder on the terrace as our kitchen window overlooks it but it gets blown over in strong winds during the season they most need the food.  I have now stood a metal obelisk on the edge with its feet banged into the stony stuff and I hook bird feeders onto that - fat balls, fat blocks and peanuts with loose seed spread on the terrace nearby.

    There's also a cast iron water bath but nobody bothers with that so go for the feeders.  Once they're used to you proximity doesn't matter.  In our last house I had peanut feeders hanging on hooks on the wall either side of our kitchen window and also, in winter, from the hanging basket brackets either side of our living room window.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • AnniDAnniD South West UKPosts: 10,990
    edited January 2019
    Ironically l was going to say, don't go for feeders, go for the bath ! I have tried both and the feeders were a failure. We have a bird bath about 5 feet from the window and that gets used a lot.
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    Hmm.

    Maybe I should go with something cheap and temporary first to see if it takes?
  • AnniDAnniD South West UKPosts: 10,990
    Might be worth a try, it might take them a while to get used to it, but once they are, they use it all the time. Just don't ask me about this weekend's bird count though !
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 SomersetPosts: 10,480
    I've got one of the tall metal bird feeders with 4 hooks, but put an extension pole on the top to make it about 7 ft tall, so I can see it from my chair in the living room. There's a 5ft drop from the terrace to the lawn, so it needed to be taller. I had to concrete it in and brace it because of the high winds we sometimes get. It's probably about 5-6 ft from the living room window.
  • Janie BJanie B LincolnshirePosts: 865
    There can be fewer more joyous sights that a blackbird having a good wash in the birdbath... if I had to choose (and thankfully I don't, as we have a stone bird bath, and then a spike hammered into the ground and hung with various feeders, both viewable from the kitchen table), I'd go for the bath, I think. 
  • ObelixxObelixx Vendée, Western FrancePosts: 28,544
    When it's used, a bird bath is great fun.  I have put various bird baths out over the years and the birds never use them but then there's always been a pond and a stream nearby and clearly they prefer those.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    edited January 2019
    Okay, I think I could put this into the wall bed on the perimeter of the terrace, and it’s cheap enough not to worry about:

    https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-wild-bird-feeding-station-175cm/p/0303785?nst=0&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping%7CGeneric%7CBestseller&utm_term=4577198188558033&utm_content=Generic%7CBestseller%7CHome%20%26%20Garden&gclid=CPnkqvWYjuACFQUoGwodZbwNLg&gclsrc=ds
  • Fran IOMFran IOM Posts: 2,211
    I bought a small birdbath and thought I had wasted my money until I saw my robin sitting on the edge having a good drink  :)
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    edited January 2019
    Regarding the bird feeder itself rather than the stand, does it matter what type to what bird?  Or can they all service all birds?

    From memory we get a couple of robins, magpie, Wood pigeon, occasional early season woodpecker.

    Im in the suburbs.

    https://www.wilko.com/wilko-functional-wild-bird-seed-feeder/p/0121998

    Previously I’ve just left chunks of cheese for the robin or they feast on the upturned earth and lawn.
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