In recent weeks bird activity around feeders has definitively picked up. Like the return to school, this is a harbinger of autumn and behind that, winter. Certainly feeding birds in a deliberate, thoughtful way, observing rather than simply doling out bits of kitchen scraps, pays dividends as another marker of the changing seasons.
I previously noted chaffinches are much less numerous than they were. In recent days I have only seen one. Greenfinches and great tits are numerous. There have been a pair of collared doves consistently present (or nearby) but the other day I saw not just two but four – two pairs.
I’ve also begun, again, to use nyger seed and sunflower heart mixes as well as the more general mix I was using over the summer (due to seeming lack of interest in the others) The latter is especially beloved of finches. Bits of apple, so popular in winter and spring, still seem to be not terribly popular.
Séamus Sweeney 