Thursday 10 November 2011

Woken

I sometimes marvel that I used to actually understand calculus, I even got the Maths prize, my final year at school - and French  and Chemistry, I was such a swot - but now simple ratios and percentages hurt my head. The brain fog from ME is no joke. Your head really does feel full of holes. I do miss my academic self. I am in a very bad mood cos I was woken by the magpie that sounds like a manic toy train, though today it sounds wheezy like it has a cold. The other day, I bought a bag of seeds for the birds, a bargain for a pound,   but so far they have ignored what I scatter. If you haven't fed them before, how do  they know the seeds are there, how can you tell them?

4 comments:

homegirl said...

Hi Nasim,

the birds are very suspicious, it usually takes a couple of weeks before they will come to a new feeding station.
however, the bargain seed bags are bulked out with a lot of what i think are corn seeds... which hardly any birds eat. I discovered this to my cost when i kept buyinh it and then most of it being left to rot on the patio or germinate and grow weeds on the grass.


depends on what birds you have around/which ones you want to attract.
I have learned quite a bit about birds/feeding etc since i been ill. My mum erected a feeder outside my window and i must say the things i ignored when i was well now do give me a lot of joy.

We have a resident magpie pair too... they *do* sound like toy trains! lol thats a good description.

nmj said...

Hey, Thanks for this! I also put out high quality food for them a couple weeks ago, I looked up RSPB for tips, and made them up a feast but they still did not come. I think the fact I do not go out til afternoon may have sth to do with it, birds being morning creatures ;) I just don't want them having no food in winter. But neither do I want to attract rats or foxes. That's a bummer about the bargain bird seed, I won't get it again.

homegirl said...

To avoid rats/foxes the best plan is to get a dedicated feeding station.

eg

http://www.amazon.co.uk/GARDEN-FEEDING-FEEDER-STATION-WATER/dp/B002UONWTA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321097026&sr=8-1

The smaller birds eat the seeds from the hanger (i've found sunflower hearts (the ones with the black shell removed already) to be the most popular- they are quite expensive but you get no waste) and larger ones like blackbirds etc will eat from the tray. (if you see a bargain bag of currants/sultanas these are very popular with robins blackbirds and song thrushes and starlings.

Also it's good to have the water dish too cos they need it.

loads of good advice here...

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/

you can also make good feeders with pine cone peanut butter and seeds, ive never done it but if you ggogle it you'll find plenty of instructions.

oh and 1 last thing... i've learned to avoid the cheap fat balls too... they look like a bargain but are rock hard and full of grit & they dont eat them.

nmj said...

You sure know your stuff, Hg, thanks. I did see those bargain fat balls but wasn't tempted.