Last week we decided it was time to cut down the sunflowers in the front, although leaving plenty of stalks to support the Cosmos. Although we are now into November this has begun to flower. The sunflowers were over and we thought the birds might come to inspect and feed on them. However we have found an intermediate solution which is very satisfying.
My husband took last year's fat-ball container and attached for a base an insert from a microwave steamer. (We have stopped using a microwave.) He used four large bootlaces to hang it from the purpose-made pole given to us by a gardening customer more than ten years ago. The pole is nearer the kitchen window than in previous years because an extension length of washing line is attached to it. We then trimmed the driest sunflower heads to fit inside the feeder.
After a slow start the robin was the first to investigate followed by all manner of tits from the park. The blackbirds cannot perch on the base and have to be content with pecking around on the lawn for seeds that have fallen through it. The squirrels have tried acrobatic leaps but cannot jump to the feeder from the apple trees.
But it is a joy to watch the tits emerge from a hole in the hedge or fly down from the hazels to the apple trees and from there to the feeder. They very swiftly peck out a sunflower seed and fly away to split the case to extract the seed amid the safety of the tall trees.
