Saturday 23 January 2010

Banana Fodder

The day remained misty. or even foggy all day, which coupled with a fine drizzle was distinctly unpleasant.

Looking towards Nelson Park, I could only just see the barn 140 yards away and the trees, some 15 yards further back were completely shrouded in the blanket of damp fog.

Even the end of our garden, just 30 yards back showed the signs of haziness, but this didn't interfere with activities of the feeding birds. We suddenly seem to be getting more Great Tits and Blue Tits in, and the Greenfinches have become quite noisy, their discordant song echoing round the garden.
It is hard to believe that on a clear night France is visible in this direction. I say night because it is easier to see the lights at night than the land in the day time, the air seems clearer at night.

During the snow we bought a few bananas to feed to the birds. They don't seem to like them until they are very ripe and then Blackbirds seem to enjoy them. Earlier there were three Carrion Crows down and they also seemed to enjoy getting tucked in to them. When we were in Kenya, a few years back, Pam did a bit of Scuba diving, and the food that attracted then fish most was bananas. I wonder how they had got into habit of eating bananas, hardly a normal coral reef fruit.

I've put some feeders very close to the patio doors in the lounge and these are just beginning to get used quite a lot. Movement inside has to be careful, but this does allow close viewing.

In general the Chaffinches are happier clearing up the bits that get dropped, than hanging on the feeders. They do sometimes cling on, but seldom for very long.

1 comment:

Phil Sharp said...

I put ripe banana out in the cold snap Tony, blackbirds were the only ones to show any interest at all and then they didn't seem that keen.