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Janet · 21-08-2013, 09:40 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
lid says...

On Wed, 21 Aug 2013 19:01:04 +0100, "Bertie Doe"
wrote:

Last month we had a couple of rare visitors - a pair of bullfinches. Mostly
the male only showed up and he would only stay for 5 or 10 minutes.

His first choice of food was whole black sunflower seeds, with just an
occasional visit to the SF hearts. Maybe the coats on the BSFs keep the
inards fresher? The bullfinch has a powerful beak, which helps. However,
goldfinches prefer the hearts and will only move to the nyjer when the
hearts are finished.

It's fascinating in a way that in different parts of the country,
birds seem to like different foods. Here bull, gold, green finches all
go for the hearts. Nyger just wasn't touched.

Initially I put out nyger to attract goldfinches; they and the siskins
love it. This past winter, for the first time, one or two sparrows
learnt to hang on and feed from the nyger feeder, the fatball holder and
the peanut feeder. Within days all the sparrows were doing it.

Janet