Blue Tit Feeder

[Sean Regan]

A year ago, my wife got me to look at this blue tit feeder on "her" TV shopping channel.
It was accompanied by a video, "showing lots of highly trained blue tits in and out of one."
So as we get a lot of blue tits in our garden, she convinced me that I should buy one, (not really, but anything for a quiet life).

Anyway, it had been there for a year and completely ignored by every blue tit.

It's well-designed and constructed and so it should be for nearly thirty quid.
Only birds the size of blue tits can get through the outer mesh. Two blocks of food fit in the inner wire container.

A month ago, I bought a pack of suet blocks that would fit it. rather than those of dubious content provided with the feeder. Another twelve quid.

Anyway. I looked out the kitchen window this morning to see a blue tit in it! But no chance of getting a photo.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

So as we get a lot of blue tits in our garden,

So do we, and the nest box on the fence gets used most years. It made me think about getting another, but I discovered they are highly territorial about nesting sites and you would never get two in a garden our size, strange when you see them in flocks with long tail tits feeding.

 

[Sean Regan]

As I feared, I got some photos and videos... 371 of them! It recorded bees and the wisteria blooms moving and the top of my head every time I passed it during the day.
But a quick flick through them produced several visits.

A bit hard to see. There's a lot of shadow caused by the wisteria.

Here's one underneath the feeder.

And another inside it.

I've added a video of it to my YouTube channel. A second blue tit flies off just as the video commences.

 

[florasense]

So do we, and the nest box on the fence gets used most years. It made me think about getting another, but I discovered they are highly territorial about nesting sites and you would never get two in a garden our size, strange when you see them in flocks with long tail tits feeding.

Isn’t it funny how blue tits go from being little garden socialites in winter to fiercely territorial landlords in spring? You’d think with how happily they all gather around the feeder, they’d be open to a bit of neighbourly nesting but nope. Once it’s nesting season, it’s like: “This box is mine. I will fight you.”

In a smaller garden, that usually means one nest box gets all the attention, while any others sit there like rejected Airbnbs. You can try adding a second one, especially if it's well spaced out, but there’s no guarantee anyone will move in these little birds have opinions.

Have you ever had chicks hatch and fledge from your box before? That moment is pure magic.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Have you ever had chicks hatch and fledge from your box before? That moment is pure magic.

A time of high anxiety, every cat in the neighbourhood knows it's happening and is looking for a piece of the action.