Siskin song

possible food choices for the bird cafe

this is direct from the rspb website, click on the title above to explore their site further

What food to provide

Black sunflower seeds are excellent year-round food

We receive numerous enquiries about what and how to feed garden birds. Many of them relate to the best type of food to provide, or whether particular foods are suitable for birds or not. This page shows you what to feed your garden birds - and what to avoid.

Bird seed mixtures

There are different mixes for feeders and for birdtables and ground feeding. The better mixtures contain plenty of flaked maize, sunflower seeds, and peanut granules.

Small seeds, such as millet, attract mostly house sparrows, dunnocks, finches, reed buntings and collared doves, while flaked maize is taken readily by blackbirds. Tits and greenfinches favour peanuts and sunflower seeds. Mixes that contain chunks or whole nuts are suitable for winter feeding only. Pinhead oatmeal is excellent for many birds. Wheat and barley grains are often included in seed mixtures, but they are really only suitable for pigeons, doves and pheasants, which feed on the ground and rapidly increase in numbers, frequently deterring the smaller species.

Avoid seed mixtures that have split peas, beans, dried rice or lentils as again only the large species can eat them dry. These are added to some cheaper seed mixes to bulk them up. Any mixture containing green or pink lumps should also be avoided as these are dog biscuit, which can only be eaten when soaked.

Black sunflower seeds

These are an excellent year-round food, and in many areas are even more popular than peanuts. The oil content is higher in black than striped ones, and so they are much better. Sunflower hearts (the husked kernels) are a popular no-mess food.

Nyjer seeds

These are small and black with a high oil content. They need a special type of seed feeder, and are particular favourites with goldfinches and siskins.

Peanuts

These are rich in fat and are popular with tits, greenfinches, house sparrows, nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers and siskins. Crushed or grated nuts attract robins, dunnocks and even wrens. Nuthatches and coal tits may hoard peanuts. Salted or dry roasted peanuts should not be used. Peanuts can be high in a natural toxin, which can kill birds, so buy from a reputable dealer, such as our online shop, to guarantee freedom from aflatoxin.

Bird cake and food bars

Fat balls and other fat-based food bars are excellent winter food. If they are sold in nylon mesh bags, always remove the bag before putting the fat ball out – the soft mesh can trap and injure birds. You can make your own bird cake by pouring melted fat (suet or lard) onto a mixture of ingredients such as seeds, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal, cheese and cake. Use about one-third fat to two-thirds mixture. Stir well in a bowl and allow it to set in a container of your choice. An empty coconut shell, plastic cup or tit bell makes an ideal bird cake ‘feeder’. Alternatively, you can turn it out onto your birdtable when solid.

Live foods and other insect foods

Mealworms are relished by robins and blue tits, and may attract other insect-eating birds such as pied wagtails.

Mealworms are a natural food and can be used to feed birds throughout the year. It can become quite expensive to constantly buy mealworms, and many people want to grow their own. You can culture your own mealworms (click on the link to the left). If you cannot face this performance, buy your mealworms from the professionals, consoling yourself with the thought that successful mealworm breeding is even more difficult than it sounds. Click on the link to the right to buy mealworms from our online shop.

It is very important that any mealworms fed to birds are fresh. Any dead or discoloured ones must not be used as they can cause problems such as salmonella poisoning.

Waxworms are excellent, but expensive. Proprietary foods for insect-eating birds, such as ant pupae and insectivorous and softbill food are available from bird food suppliers and pet shops. Insect food appropriately offered can attract treecreepers and wrens

Polyunsaturated margarines or vegetable oils

These are unsuitable for birds. Unlike humans, birds need high levels of saturated fat, such as raw suet and lard. They need the high energy content to keep warm in the worst of the winter weather, since their body reserves are quickly used up, particularly on cold winter nights. The soft fats can easily be smeared onto the feathers, destroying the waterproofing and insulating qualities.

Dog and cat food

Meaty tinned dog and cat food form an acceptable substitute to earthworms during the warm, dry part of the summer when worms are beyond the birds' reach. Blackbirds readily take dog food, and even feed it to their chicks.

Dry biscuits are not recommended as birds may choke on the hard lumps. It is sometimes added to cheaper seed mixtures for bulk. Soaked dog biscuit is excellent, except in hot weather as it quickly dries out. Petfood can attract larger birds such as magpies and gulls, and also neighbourhood cats. If this is likely to be a problem, it is best avoided.

Milk and coconut

Never give milk to any bird. A bird's gut is not designed to digest milk and it can result in serious stomach upsets, or even death. Birds can, however, digest fermented dairy products such as cheese. Mild grated cheese can be a good way of attracting robins, wrens and dunnocks.

Give fresh coconut only, in the shell. Rinse out any residues of the sweet coconut water from the middle of the coconut before hanging it out to prevent the build-up of black mildew.

Desiccated coconut should never be used as it may swell once inside a bird and cause death.

Rice and cereals

Cooked rice, brown or white (without salt added) is beneficial and readily accepted by all species during severe winter weather. Uncooked rice may be eaten by birds such as pigeons, doves and pheasants but is less likely to attract other species.

Porridge oats must never be cooked, since this makes them glutinous and could harden around a bird's beak. Uncooked porridge oats are readily taken by a number of bird species.

Any breakfast cereal is acceptable birdfood, although you need to be careful only to put out small quantities at a time. It is best offered dry, with a supply of drinking water nearby, since it quickly turns into pulp once wetted.

Mouldy and stale food

Many moulds are harmless, but some that can cause respiratory infections in birds, and so it is best to be cautious and avoid mouldy food entirely.

If food turns mouldy or stale on your birdtable, you are probably placing out too large a quantity for the birds to eat in one day. Always remove any stale or mouldy food promptly. Stale food provides a breeding ground for salmonella bacteria, which can cause food poisoning. At least one type of salmonella causes death among such species as greenfinches and house sparrows. Large quantities of food scattered on the ground may attract rats and mice. Rats can carry diseases that affect humans.

a promise of birds to come

a possible visitor to the PICU gardens could be the goldfinch....

house martin

there are house martins flying high above the PICU

available from rspb

nifty camera housings for feeders and nest boxes - we can make our own versions with FACT's expertise...

Feeding the Birds

• Encouraging birds into the garden can begin immediately, gradually the feeders, bird baths and nest boxes can be added.....
  
• The best times to feed the garden birds is in Winter and Spring, when natural food is scarce
• Need to supply Food AND Water - running water is great
  
• Feed in the early morning and early afternoon
• Adjust the amounts of food you put out to match the demand you get
  
• Use a variety of feeding sites. Keep ground level trays clear of cover
  
• If you scatter the ground, vary the site where you put seed out
  
• clear away unwanted food (to avoid vermin / seeds taking root)
• Dont allow a build up of old food (think restaurant again!)
  
• keep the feeding receptacles clean: sweep, empty, disinfect and rinse carefully the feeding trays and mesh on feeders regularly.
  
• Clean the receptacles outside to avoid infection - use rubber gloves and wash hands thoroughly afterwards.
  
• In spring and summer the good hygiene rules are even more important
• Because there are a lot of pigeons about, feeders are better than an open bird table, because the mesh used is too fine for pigeons to feed from.
• other options could be Fat balls and cakes or pastry with seed pushed into a pine cone
• beware in case people have peanut allergies
• Seed can be expensive - shop around locally for a good deal on seed mixes.
  
• Results wont be instant - you need to keep at it!
  

what might you add to the juke box?

At the meeting with the Touchstones group, some ideas came up about what you might ad to the jukebox:

• windchimes or other relaxing sounds
• a quiz - with questions and answers at the end!
• clips from favourite TV / radio shows - like theme tunes or soundtrack

later on on the unit, mentioning the thing about TV shows, we got chatting about Dick Dasterdly and Penelope Pitsop - what about the song "Stop The Pigeon!"

RSPB

The amazing Chris from Liverpool RSPB (link from the title of this post) paid a special visit to the PICU today. Armed with a wealth of information on how to make your own bird boxes / tables / baths and what to feed and when; Chris stunned us with his ability to hear house martins and Goldfinches while we showed him the garden.

He says we may have "problems with pigeons" - we could see them watching us from the roof of the hospital - and so our feeding of the birds has to be pigeon proof! i.e we need to use feeders (tubes or boxes of seed with fine mesh) rather than nice inviting bird tables which will be raided!

Apparently you can visit the National Wildflower Centre nearby at Court Hey http://www.nwc.org.uk , where they already have some bird-cams set up and in the spring you can sit in the cafe and watch the birds feeding the chicks on cctv.....

All we need to do now is get the birds interested in our garden, by starting to feed them over the autumn and winter and putting up some nesting boxes for them to inspect. We need to vary what we serve up. Its like a restaurant where the same meal gets served every day - after a few tries you'd give up going, and so will the birds. Bryony is going to make some seed cakes for the birds with residents at PICU.

A bird bath needs to be very shallow, almost flat. Running water attracts birds even more. A round piece of stone or ceramic with a hole in the middle and a small pump is ideal. This can be at ground level.
As well as attracting birds we could go for butterflies...and other bugs

one thing he did say was that we could set up a dovecote for pigeons - once they are inside you lock it and have them "taken away" - oh dear!!

take your picu....

I met up today with members of the Touchstones group: Andrew, Mark, Karen, Anne and Ronnie. I outlined the ideas we will be working on over the coming months which are briefly described here - a full proposal is available on request.
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and support.

PIC-U-PIC (birdsong juke box)
a juke box full of birdsong. When you come onto the picu you can choose your own track/sound/spoken word recording which will then be added to the jukebox in place of one of the birdsongs.

Top Ten Tips PICture book (in defence of pigeons)
a fanzine style booklet created by everyone - a fun way to pass on advice to new residents

TURN THE (SURVEILLANCE) BIRD TABLES
a series of bird tables in the outdoor spaces are monitored by c.c.t.v cameras and the images are relayed into the PICU, encouraging residents to feed the birds and increase the wildlife in the gardens

LIGHT OF DAY - PIC NICS
A series of films, static shots of the changing light and landscape looking out from the river and coastal sites of Liverpool. We will go for a picnic and talk about our experiences of the PICU whilst looking out towards the horizon.

stuff for everyone to collect!

WE NEED YOUR:

• leaflets and information about PICU / liverpool
• hobby magazines that reflect your interests
  
• old magazines and picture books (that you dont mind being cut up)
• comics
• newspapers
• photos taken around the building (but check if your including anyone that they dont mind)
• photos of yourselves your happy to use
  
• tourist brochures about Liverpool
• quotes from books you like - like self help stuff
• words - type on the computer and print out
• ideas
• pages you've made at home to add to the fanzine....
  

PLUS - scissors / pritt stick glues / lots of A4 paper /pens/pencils/markers/ old typewriter or computer and printer / a bin for all the rubbish!!

Top Tips so far........

the following tips I gathered today from Jeff, Joe and Roger

• keep stress free, stay cool and take your meds
• take each day as it comes
• activities help get you through the day
• talk to people - communication is key
• take a shower or a bath - you'll feel better for it
• listen to each other - drop the attitude
• talk to people who've been here longer than you
• give people space when they're having a bad day
• eat your food, keep your strength up
• keep your blood circulating - keep yourself from vegetating
• get outside and take advantage of the activities- dont fester on the ward
• keep in contact with your loved ones by telephone, its important
• dont dunk your biscuits for longer than one or two seconds - its all about timing
• ginger nuts are best for dunking
• be optimistic
• smile, instead of frowning (it uses less muscles!)
• watch football (better still go and play football outside!)
• the picu is great, because although theres more regulations, your not surrounded by temptations - these days I just sniff the lavender from the garden to relax me...
• its relaxed and chilled
• you have your own room - no snoring to disturb you!
  

where's that title come from?

I spent a most enjoyable afternoon with Touchstones and Bryony and then we went onto the unit and I met some of the residents. One person was talking about his passion for birds and wildlife - He said he'd spotted some house sparrows, a heron gull and lots of pigeons. We said that we were hoping NOT to attract pigeons - but then he said that pigeons are much maligned and people pick on them unfairly - flying rats and so on. And I learned from him that pigeons are picking up disease from human saliva, that they catch from eating discarded bits of bread or pie that people drop in the street.

After all homing pigeons are amazing; that they could transport messages across continents during the war.... the ordinary everyday Pigeons are one of the rejected species of birds, along with magpies and seagulls, living close to us and with us, we see them around us all the time, and yet we dont really notice them perhaps - could be an analogy for people who may be feeling rejected by society..

so "in defence of pigeons" has become a working title for the "Top Ten Tips" fanzine - we can change it later. but I'm definitely going to keep it for this blog!!