[yvesans]

When in the UK I lived in a bird reserve and was an avid bird feeder and watcher as it was so wonderful to see. Although in Cyprus the summers are a bit barren apart from migrators and swallows/swifts/martens we do get many birds through the winter, I wonder if any members have tips on bird tables or feeders and what to put out? We also get many little owls around us all year who are a hoot! actually they make the funniest of noises!

[Umbrian]

A lot of birds visit my garden especially in more recent years as the maturing trees and shrubs provide them with more cover. Various tits, robins, blackbirds wagtails and goldfinches are regular visitors, the latter always nesting in the garden. However, in the main all my attempts to provide food for them (in strategic places so that I can watch them more closely) have failed. For the tits I have hung up nuts, fat rinds and half coconut shells, all great favourites in the UK but all have been ignored. Only the robins come occasionally in the winter to feed on crumbs I leave on the window sill of our lounge. I have come to the conclusion that birds here are just not accustomed to having "free" food provided for them as they are in the UK and have not yet learnt to take advantage of it!
A little "aside"  -  when we came here people said we would never see any birds as the Italians love to shoot them, well, yes they do but even if they have not learnt to come to the garden for food it would appear that they have learnt how to avoid being shot to a large degree

[Daisy]

I have a bird table, a metal one so that the cats cannot climb up it.
In the summer it is mainly used by blue tits, great tits and sparrows.
Other birds come occasionally, but the tits are there all day, every day.
In the winter, a lot of other birds use it now, but it took a long time before the first one tried it.
In the beginning, it was ages before it started to be used.
I remember having to throw old, uneaten, peanuts away for the first few months.
Now however, I am having to buy fresh peanuts and sunflower seeds weekly.

Sorry the photos are so poor. The silly birds wouldn't pose.
Daisy

[danny]

Doesn't matter about the quality, they're great shots

[JTh]

We had our national bird count yesterday here in Norway, it is slightly surprising to see that many of the birds you mention, Carol, are the same as the ones we see here in the north, even in winter, but I don’t see these in Greece. As you say, it’s difficult to find strategic places where you can also watch them, our best place is from the bathroom window, which is not the most exciting place to spend most of the day.

It seems as if the birds we see also in the winter today have changed somewhat, there are more goldfinches, blackbirds and fieldfares to be seen now than before. It can’t be just because it has become warmer than before, at least the three last winters have been quite cold. But today I heard some great tits singing in the garden for the first time this year, something I always think of as the first sign of spring.

We feed the birds when we are in Greece as well, I found that a tray with water is attracting a lot more birds than if you offer birdfeed alone. It takes a few days before they get used to this when we have been away for a while, but it is very popular with the local birds.