Our best price offer yet. Save a massive 50% when you buy Standard - Plus mix wild bird food.

We have a limited stock at this price and it is first come first served. Standard - Plus mix is designed to fit the pockets of everyone, it is a good, low corn mix that has the added benefit of protein granules, giving your birds a boost in vitamins.

Standard - Plus mix does what it says on the can! it is an excellent, nutritionally balanced food for your garden birds and at half price you can't go wrong.

You might like to try some of our other wild bird foods which always represent great value and never compromise quality.

Wheat Free - Plus mix has the same benefits of protein granules without any Wheat.

Summer Mix - a great mix, full of colour - containing suet, mealworms, peanut granules and fruit.

Blackbird and Thrush Food - fantastic nutrition for your songbirds.

Sunflower Hearts - the one stop fix for all birds and at a super value price.

Niger Seed - the Goldfinch magnet!

It is always tragic to see a bird in your garden and find him on the floor after hitting a window. Sometimes they are lucky and survive to fly another day, but not always.

We speak to lots of customers and many have stories of helping the young birds get back on their feet (and wings) again and everyone has a sense of achievement when they see they bird fly off to start again. But of course, no one wants to see the birds come to any harm in the first place and so we should do all we can to prevent birds flying in to our windows.

Birds eyesight is different from ours, they are very sensitive to Ultra Violet light and so the Window Alert decals are an ideal way to help the birds detect our clear glass and glazing. They come in two styles, the maple leave design and the Butterfly design, both work just as effectively and offer a choice for your own preference.

The Ultra Violet coating fades after about two years and so becomes less effective, so it is recommended that they are changed every two years.

All you office block employees out there, would do a tremendous job if you could persuade someone to adopt a positive approach to this situation, even if you get them on the reception windows, at least you will have made a difference.

Our new showroom at our Hinstock address is now officially open and everyone is welcome to come along and see all our range of wild bird food, feeders, accessories and lots of other wildlife items.

Our opening hours are:-

Saturday from 10am to 2pm

Sunday from 10am to 2pm

Monday from 10am to 6.30pm

We have 20 seed mixes and straights to look at as well as feeders and stands for your garden birds.

Call 08001216024 or contact us via the internet, for further details.

Right from the very first day of starting our business we have always made our customers our priority. We pride ourselves on providing exemplary customer service, but even more, we appreciate you so much that we always put a little gift in with your order. It might only be a suet ball, or a discount voucher for next time, or it may be a suet block - or 2! whatever we put in we do because we want to say thank you for your order - simple, old fashioned, good manners.

You can also get free samples of our seed mixes with your order. All our seasonal range have a free sample option, Spring, Summer Autumn and Winter mix. (One per 20Kg sack in with your order)

For nesting time we give away a red plastic peanut feeder - for use as a nesting material holder, mainly because they are so horrible to look at, you will be able to put it under a ledge in the dry, but out of sight as well! - how about that for honesty:) just ask for one in the comments box at checkout.

There is our free to enter competition, try your luck, you can't go wrong.

Free delivery on orders over £75.

Returnable packaging for free - use the freepost address, place all the poly bags into one, seal it and apply our Freepost label.

 Well, we hope you can see how much we care about our customers, try it for yourself, if you haven't already, we have lots of customers now who are very loyal to us - thank you - we really appreciate you.

At British Bird Food our policy is to make visitors to our web site feel they receive the best attention and value for money anywhere on the web.

You don't even have to buy something to benefit. Just enter our free competition to win a  bird feeder, we will announce the winner in our next newsletter.

If you did want to purchase from us you might like the following offers.

Sunflower Hearts

Peanuts

Squirrel Buster feeders

Solar Sipper - no batteries or wires, cool in the summer and frost free in winter, drinking water for your birds.

Mealworms at less than half price

Giant suet balls

Standard suet balls

All the above value for money offers can be delivered to your door the next day for free (orders over £75)

From small Acorns....... British Bird Food now has a showroom for everyone to come and see, we might not be big, but we sure can get a lot in a small place!

Based in Hinstock we have been concentrating on our online sales for over a year now and we are very pleased with the result. Recently some of our local customers have said they would like to see more of what we do, but that has been difficult in the past as we are very tight for space in our ever expanding range to be stored, mixed and packed on the premises.

We have converted a small extension in to a showroom where we can show off our products to local people and ad hock callers. With 20 seeds and mixes on display as well as dozens of feeders and accessories to chose from we are sure there is something for everyone, whether it is for a present or a personal interest we have lots of offers to take advantage of.

The showroom is open Saturday and Sunday 10am to 2.00pm and on Monday 10am. to 6.30pm.

Callers are welcome, but if you are unsure, just give us a free call on 0800 1216024.

You can see lots of the following examples of our range.

Standard - Plus mix

Wheat Free mix

Peanut Granules

Niger Seed

Bird nest boxes.

Wildlife habitats.

Squirrel Proof Feeders.

Peanuts in shells

Peanuts in their shells are a great way to feed your birds - and provide entertainment for yourself.

String them together with cotton and hang them in strings from branches to provide a new challenge for your garden birds. Watch them get up to all sorts of antics to get to the nut inside the shell and then the joy of the feast.

Nuts in shells are popular with all the Tit family as well as Woodpeckers and Nuthatches.

You can also feed from a table or a peanut feeder.

Try these other peanut foods from our shop:-

Peanuts

Granulated Peanuts

Robin and Tit food.

Blackbird and Thrush food

We are pleased to say we have extended our range of suet pellets to include fruit flavour.

Our suet pellets have been on offer now for a while and we have been so busy we figure we must have got the right product at the right price. So we are committing to keep this low price for a further month.

Just so our customers can have even more choice we have now added the Fruit flavour pellets to our range and we have included them in both the suet variety pack and mixed pellets, so you can try them for yourself at the lowest price without having to buy a bulk bag of the same flavour.

If you like suet in your birds mixes you night like to try one of our special mixes:-

Spring mix

Summer mix

Autumn mix

Winter mix

All our seasonal range contains suet, because we recognise the importance of including this high energy food in the birds diet and you won't find better prices for these specialist mixes.

Our customers are telling of an unprecedented amount of activity in their gardens, now this may be a natural event that happens every year, or it may be because they are feeding good wholesome food that the parents want to share with their young fledglings. Of course we at British Bird Food, would like to think that our food has something to do with it! but who knows? - the fact is there are now more birds and a greater variety of species in our garden and those of our customers and in the last couple of weeks feeding has increased two fold. Most people carry on feeding, but some stop for the summer months - why? - well the only answer I can see is that they think there is enough natural food around for the birds to find, and that may be true; but in a selfish way I want to keep my birds in and around my garden, it gives us hours of pleasure, sitting out in the evening watching and listening to them around the  bird feeders and the rest of the garden. Nature always manages the balance and I am positive the birds are taking in natural food from around our garden. A good example is the Robin and Thrush that are currently feeding their broods. As far as I have seen they are always taking in food from the garden to the nest. So the way we look at it is, that the feeders provide a much needed boost for the parents energy levels, and a good start for the fledglings to train on. Our message is definitely to keep on feeding right through the year, they will always be a reason why the birds will benefit from your help and of course, you benefit from seeing nature up close.

The popular feeds that we are selling at the moment are:-

Summer mix

Wheat free mix

No Mess mix

Granulated Peanuts

Sunflower Hearts

We also have on offer:-

Ground feeder trays - for the Blackbirds and Thrushes

Robin feeders

Clingers only feeders

Peanut baskets - at only£3.95

British Bird Food are always trying to bring you the best value and we have already got some great prices on Mealworms, but we have taken it one stage further and we can offer you the chance to benefit from our buying power.

Buy 10Kgs of Mealworms for only £150, at £15 per kilo that is the best price you will find on the internet. To save costs we ship the Mealworms in the original carton, that way we can deliver you the best price possible.

Now is the perfect time of year to buy in bulk, the Robins and Thrushes and lots of other birds are feeding their young fledglings. Mealworms are a highly nutritious way of the birds getting the protein they need.

You can mix the Mealworms with any of our mixes, you might try one of the following:-

Standard mix

Standard - Plus

Wheat free mix

Wheat Free - Plus

Premium mix

Sunflower Hearts

Our competition slot is becoming more popular - and why not? it's not every day you can get something for nothing. Simply answer a multi choice question (take a look at the bird of the month for a little help!)

Win a Clingers only bird feeder worth £9.95 and you can feed your garden birds some of our speciality bird mixes, like:-

Robin and Tit food

Blackbird and Thrush food

Mealworms

Suet pellets

A lot of people think that summer time is the time to stop feeding the wild birds and of course everyone has their own view on it. The way we think about feeding for the whole year is, that we encourage the birds to come to our garden and they in return give us a lovely display and variety of birds and their song, they bring their young to feed and learn them all about our garden and where to find food, both naturally and from feeders. So we think that to stop feeding will result in the birds having to find somewhere else to feed (next door's feeder) and our garden will be a much quieter place, besides which the young birds will have to learn about another place to feed safely.

As I am writing this I am looking out over our garden at our feeders and they are a mass of activity, Sparrows, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock, Robin,Blackbird and Thrush. Now, if they did no require our food, why would they keep coming? and the amount we are getting through at this time of year suggests they are very much appreciating the food we provide. So that is why we feed our birds throughout the year.

If you have a different view please do let us know.

If you are thinking about feeding through the summer take a look at the sort of food we can offer you.

Summer Mix

Autumn Mix

Robin Food

Blackbird and Thrush food

Wheat free plus

No Mess

Sunflower Hearts

Peanuts

Niger seed

We have just taken delivery of a very limited number of Solar Robin lights, they are a bit of gardening fun really, at only £6.95 each they make an ideal gift (Fathers day June 22nd?) buy one or a few to make a display in your garden.

They come ready assembled, so all you have to do is take them out of the box and plant them in a sunny part of your garden, than wait for a night time display like no other.

Our latest product in our variety pack range is designed to offer choice and value. The seed and suet variety pack offers 4 x 5Kg of high energy foods for your garden birds and saves you a massive 25% off the retail prices for these four packs.

Starting with 5Kgs of Peanuts for oil and vitamins, we also have 5Kgs of mixed suet pellets - just pure energy for birds. 5Kgs of High energy no mess bird seed mix comes in with all the nutritional requirements for seed and we end with 50 standard suet balls. Everything for your garden birds in one pack, you can feed it all from either a table or feeder.

Available now for only £41.36 offering a saving of 25% on the original retail prices. That is a massive £13.79 saving in one go!

All our foods come to you in small, returnable polythene bags, when you have emptied them, just put them all in one empty poly bag, apply the label from your invoice and send it back to us free.

Our variety pack range:-

Suet block variety pack

Wild bird variety pack

Seed variety pack

Seed and suet variety pack

The Wild bird variety pack has been introduce to allow you to try out different wild bird foods in your garden. It contains six types of wild bird food, that would normally cost £50.25. The wild bird variety pack is on offer at only 39.95, that is a massive saving of 25%.

The wild bird variety pack sits alongside the other multi choice packs we offer. the suet block variety pack, the suet pellet variety pack and the longstanding, seed variety pack. They all represent excellent value for money and offer you great choice and flexibility when feeding your garden birds.

The wild bird variety pack consists of the following 3Kg packs.

• Mixed suet pellets
• Peanuts
• Autumn mix
• Winter mix
• Spring mix
• Summer mix

Take a look at each of the packs by clicking on the link name above.

All of our seasonal range offer great choice for your birds, sometimes they just want a change of diet, either for seasonal or nutritional reasons, you can feed our seasonal range all through the year, and at any time of the year. Just try it out for yourself, experiment with the different mixes to find the best one for your garden birds.

In line with our continued expansion of customer choice we have introduced the Suet Pellet Variety Pack to sit along side our Suet Block Variety Pack and the popular Seed Variety Pack. All our variety packs offer great value and give you the chance to try out lots of different wiild bird foods but with the advantage of the bulk prices. The Suet Pellet Variety Pack cntains 4 x 5Kg of Insect, Berry, Peanut and Apple flavours giving you 20Kgs of choice on how to feed them to your wild birds.

Suet pellets are packed with energy and taste delicious for the birds to benefit from in the cold winter months. They can be fed all year round as the concentrated energy in the refined fat will give a boost for feeding and nesting. Suet pellets will attract Soft bill species such as Blackbirds and Thrushes, also Robins, Dunnocks, Nuthatch and some of the larger birds. You can feed pellets from a raised table, ground, or tube feeder.

All our suet pellets come to you in re-usable /returnable grip seal bags, which make it easier for you to handle and store. Send the bags back via our free post address, and we will re-use them for you. If we re-use 10,000 bags in a year, it will save as much energy as turning off 1,000 bulbs for one hour.

Tip - Because the pellets are large, the birds may stay on your feeder longer if you have a tray fixed to the base of the feeder, for them to perch and take a little time with their meal.

Just arrived for the USA.

The worlds only solar powered bird drinker!

As a direct result of customer demand over the last winter, we have searched out a solution to the frozen bird bath.

The Solar Sipper is designed specifically to keep water from freezing in the winter and cool in the summer. It does not require any batteries or electrical wires and has no moving parts, in fact it is delightfully simple - yet very effective. The solar Sipper will prevent water from freezing, down to -6.7C. The solar lid keeps the water clean and the birds soon find out how to use it. Just look at the two birds in our picture - queing for a drink!

Made from durable plastic the Solar Sipper comes all the way from the USA and British Bird Food are the only UK wild bird food supplier to stock it.

The Solar Sipper is ideal to sit alongside your wild bird feeding station which you might like to stock with our Spring mix, No Mess Mix, or perhaps some suet products we have lots of offers on at the moment, our Suflower Hearts and Peanuts are great value.

We like to keep our customers informed about our products, latest offers and customer service. We do this by regularly updating the news items on our home page.

You can keep up to date by simply clicking on the news icon on the home page and adding you e-mail address. You will then be sent each news item as it happens, and you will be able to review all the previous news items (in full colour!) all on one page.

We always put the latest offers and new products on the news page, so it makes it easy for you to get the best deal for your birds.  The offers at the moment consist of :- Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts, Combi Pack, Seed Variety Pack, Suet pellets, Standard Suet Balls, Giant Suet Balls, Nest Boxes and Squirrel Proof feeders. We have new products going on the site all the time but some of the latest ones are :- The Squirrel Slinky, Squirrel Buster Finch, Spring Mix, Wallpoint feeing station (pictured above) and bird alert stickers.

Suet blocks are a tidy and simple way of feeding birds a very high energy food. The latest addition to our range of natural suet blocks is Apple.The best way to present the food is in a suet block holder, or you can just take off the top layer of  packaging and hang it from a hook or a piece of string; or simply place on the bird table. There are a variety of flavours to choose from, Insect, Berry, Mealworm and Peanut. You may find your birds prefer one flavour, or they might like a mixture throughout the week. A good option is to try our suet variety pack, it has an 8 block random selecion of flavours for your birds to feast on. Your garden birds will all love natural suet blocks, but they are a special favourite of the Tit family, Woodpeckers, Robins and Finches.

Here at British Bird Food you will find loads of gift ideas for fathers day, and with next day delivery you can order right up to noon on the 17th June. We can send it direct and enclose a card from you (a quality hand made card and a hand written message) just tell us what you want to say in the comments box when ordering.

Speaking from personal experience! dads like to get a surprise present and one that is unusual, that can be used time and time again. Take a look at some of the ideas on offer at British Bird Food.

You might like to give him a wild bird feeding station, there are several in our price range. Or how about a new bird feeder, there are feeders that range from £8.95 like the Observer Window Feeder, for him to stick on a window close to his seat; right through the Squirrel proof range up to the mighty Squirrel Buster Plus at £39.95 saving £10 on te RRP. If your dad already feeds the wild birds you could top his food store up with 20Kg of Sunflower Hearts at the sale price of £31.00, or Peanuts 20Kg for £28.95. If you are looking for something unusual take a look at The Egg bird feeder, I bet you have not seen one of these before, and you can be sure your dad will be the only one around for miles that has one, on sale at £24.99. If he is a gardener you could buy a Butterfly Haven,or a Beneficial Bug Box to encourage Bees into the garden.

We have lots to chose from, just visit or shop and browse our range of foods, feeders and accessories.

Our suet pellets are already at a reduced price but we are now able to offer them at an even better special offer price - entirely due to the larger quantities we are buying now. So, as we said from the beginning we want to share the benefit with you our customers.
 
10Kg Suet pellets was £29.49 - down to £25.00
15Kg Suet pellets was £36.49 - down to £32.00
20Kg Suet pellets was £47.50 - down to £40.50
25Kg Suet pellets was £59.45 - down to £50.00 
 
Suet pellets are a perfect food for your wild garden birds at this time of year. They are packed full of energy for the nesting birds, who need every once they can get. You can mix suet pellets with other wild bird seed mixes, for example our Standard mix or the Standard - Plus, or the  Wheat Free options, you can mix it with Robin and Tit Food and Premium mix. Our Winter mix and Spring Mix as well as our Autumn Conditioner mix and the Blackbird and Thrush mix already have suet pellets mixed in.
 
Tip :- If you feed Suet pellets on their own (even in a tube feeder) don't let them get wet, as they will congeal together. I have found that if you use a peanut feeder, and slide a clear plastic tube into it (pop bottle) this works a treat. If you like the idea but are not sure what to do, order a peanut feeder and say in the customer comments box that you would like to have it converted for suet feeding and we will do it free of charge. It might sound a bit 'Heath Robinson' but it works - and is a cheap option!

When you shop with us at British Bird Food, we ask you to register your details, (e-mail address is all that is required) on the site, this is for a couple of reasons, firstly so your computer is recognised each time you view our site, this enables us to automatically fill in most parts of the checkout procedure for you, saving time and repetitive information. Secondly we can also show you your previous orders, this means you can see what you bought last year, or how much it cost. You can also re-order part or all of your previous order and go straight to the checkout, where your details have been filled in ready for you to proceed to the payment pages.

We promise you that we do not reveal any of your details to any third party, we are registered under the data protection act, and our server uses the very latest security system to prevent hacking. We subscribe to the security metrics identity theft prevention system. This is a system recommended to us by Barclays bank and what it does is scan our system on a regular basis to verify our security status and ensure we are conforming to the various data protection regulations to process customer information. We do not hold any of your card payment details on our system; we use the internationally recognised Sagepay merchant services for that, so your card details are not handled by us. See our security and privacy page

Ifyou want to test it out now, just go to the home page and click on the 'my account' tab at the top of the page. You might like to what we have on offer at the moment, Sunflower hearts, Peanuts, Suet Pellets, suet balls, mealworms, wild bird feeders, accessories, to name but a few. If you have any questions give us a call free on 08001216024 or use the contact us form.

We are pleased to say we can now serve even more people further 'up north'. Many couriers do not provide a service much further than Perth or Glasgow, but at last we have found a courier who can accommodate most of Scotland in our normal next day service - with out costing the earth, in fact there are only the Highlands and Islands that are extra charge now.

With our continued commitment to deliver free on all orders over £75, this means yet more people in Scotland can enjoy the same great price deals and our unique environmentally friendly packaging system.

We always have lots to offer our customers and we are constantly improving service and reducing prices, we owe this to our loyal customer base who are now returning time and again - from small Acorns.....

You might like to try some of our latest offers on your garden birds.

Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts, Squirrel Buster feeders, Accessories, Nuttery feeders, Suet pellets, Suet Balls, Suet block variety pack, seed variety pack, Seed combo pack.

You can have a really close up view of your garden birds with the new wallpoint feeder hanging system.

The tough steel mounting bar fixes to any handy wall, window frame or fence post. The Wallpoint comes supplied with a wraparound 8" hook, that attaches in seconds and you can add more Wraparound hooks, as required, each hook can be adjusted individually.

Allowing you to relax and ejoy the beuty of your garden birds close up.

The Wallppoint has a durable coating on the tough steel brackets and 14" long mounting bar. All fixing hardwear is supplied, and you can also use the Wraparound birdbath with this item.

Key attributes.

• 14" wall monting bar in durable coated steel.
• Can hold 4 wraparond hooks (one 8" hook incuded)
• Adjust each hook indvidually.
• Can be used with the Wraparound birdbath.
• Fixing screws and wall plugs supplied.

The latest product in our shop is the decorative decal that sticks to your window by natural static, no messy adhesive and you can peel it off and stick it to another window very easily.

Prevent birds striking your windows with this product. The window alert stickers come in packs of four and are available in two designs. A butterfly shape and a Maple leaf shape.

The Window Alert system reflects the ultra violet light that is visible to birds and so it is doing it's job 24 hours a day, but we can not see it.

You can add to your window viewing pleasure, by trying an Observer Window Feeder, which you can fill with Robin and Tit food, or Spring Mix, you could also add a high strength window hook to your window and then you could hang any of our small seed feeders from it.

More new products to come. If you want to be kept up to date, enter www.britishbirdfood.co.uk/rss into your browser and you will see all our news items and be updated as they appear.

At last the rain has come, we know we need it for the garden, but the birds still need to be fed and there is nothing worse than a soggy sunflower seed!

The seattle Rain Guard is designed to fit all Droll Yankees seed feeders, it simply slides on to the tube and the spring holds it in place, this will protect your valuable seed from the elements. Made from clear UPVC the shroud is very tough and will not go yellow or crack. Your garden birds will shelter under it and you may well attract birds that otherwise would have flown by, looking for shelter and dry food.

Feeder Fresh is non toxic granules, designed to absorb moisture in the feeder tube. A lot of customers have told us how they find they are throwing away the last inch or so of seed in the bottom of their feeder, due to mould. The mould will stay in the feeder tube until washed out thoroughly. With a small amount of Feeder Fresh placed in the bottom of the feeder tube this is no longer going to be a problem.

You can protect all our seed mixes with the seattle Rain Guard and Feeder Fresh. Wheat Free - Plus, Standard - Plus, Spring Mix, as well as straight seeds, like Niger seed and Sunflower Hearts. You can use both products on Ring Pull feeders and New Generation feeders, as well as the latest Onyx range.

As part of our Seasonal Range, Spring mix is our latest mix to be designed specifically for your garden birds at the correct time of year. If you are not sure what is the best mix to feed your birds, then you can relax, we have thought of all the best ingredients and mixed them together for you. We also have our Autumn Mix, Winter Mix and our Summer Mix will be with us in June / July.

The Spring Mix is based on a Wheat Free mix with added protein, Mixed Suet Pellets and Oyster Shell Grit. The Wheat free Mix will give your birds all they need in terms of seeds and as there is no wheat in it, there is less for the Sparrows to throw around for the Pigeons to pick up. The added protein is a boost for the nutritional needs of the parents as they go through the exhausting routine of brooding, then feeding, then fledging the young birds. Our favourite ingredient - mixed suet pellets, they provide a massive boost of energy for the birds and I expect you will see them in all our seasonal mixes. Several garden birds have already gone through the breeding cycle and fledged the first young from the nest, so as they prepare the second run at it, they need feeding the right food and part of this, is the need for grit in thier system to provide a good egg shell.

If you ever think about whether to feed right through the year, then our Spring Mix is a fine example of what the birds need at this time of the year and why we have to design mixes that provide all their needs.

Remember to provide clean drinking water for your birds.

Right from the start of our venture into the world of selling wild bird food, we were determined to do it in such a way as to minimise our environmental impact. Our strategy paid off in several ways, firstly we do not have to invest in expensive machinery, this means a bit more labour but a lot less overhead, so we can keep our prices as low as the big companies. Secondly, we have had such a fantastic support for the idea of sending bags back to us via our freepost address, that we often pack for a whole day on returned packaging, we do have to send some to the re-cycle bin, but we know that some of our bags have been on four journeys before becoming unsightly. We must still maintain our customer focus and non of our re-used bags are below the standard of a new one.

British Bird Food is the only company to offer re-usable / returnable packaging, for those customers who care for the environment this make us the first choice for wild bird food and feeders.

We put all our mixes into our grip seal re-usable bags, we start with our standard mix, standard plus wild bird food, wheat free mix, wheat free plus, Blackbird and Thrush food, Robin and Tit food, Ground and Table mix, small suet balls as well as our range of straights like, Peanuts, Niger seed, Granulated Peanuts, Black Sunflower Seeds, and Sunflower Hearts. There is a separate page for you to look at, all about our environmentally friendly packaging.

Don't forget to ask for your free nesting material holder when you order. See news item from the 24th April.

This year everything is late, and that includes our gardening projects. We have been so busy with the business side, that the gardening has taken a back seat for a while. Anyway we finally got started on the long list of jobs that have to be done in order to grow the organic fruit and vegetables that we enjoy.

First job for Belinda is to get the seeds planted in the greenhouse; first job for me is to fix the shelves (I have had the job on my list for some time!) in the greenhouse for Belinda to plant out on. I assembled all the tools required for the drilling and fixing of the hinged shelves I had made. I noticed some fresh moss on the edge of a hole in the old wall that makes up the rear of our three sided greenhouse. Upon closer inspection two beady eyes looked back at me (see picture above).

So that was that, no drilling in the greenhouse for the next few weeks. I set up a table and a couple of low benches so that we could carry on with the planting, and Robin sits and looks over us as we work, very comfortable, and only ventures out to seek food in the morning and the evening, at the moment she is only feeding herself and so is enjoying Robin and Tit Food from my Observer Window Feeder, but she also feeds on Sunflower Hearts from the Droll Yankees seed feeders, and an occasional splash in the wraparound water bath. We have Goldfinches feeding on the Niger seed, as well as a Nuthatch on the Peanuts. The Spring mix is going down well with the Blue Tits and Greenfinches

Just to see if anyone other than Google reads the news, - we thought you might appreciate a free gift. Some would call it an ugly red plastic peanut feeder, but the more imaginative amonst us can see the durability for such a piece of kit in our wild bird feeding gardens.

We use our 'nesting material container' to keep our garden birds supplied with essential items for their nest making activity. We put the hair from our dog grooming in it as well as some shredded newspaper and chopped up straw. We hang it in a dry shelter that is open fronted so the birds have free access to the material. There does not appear to be a lot taken form the container, but I am sure the birds only take a little of each material to line their nest with, the rest is twigs and vegetation. We have a lot of Moss in our lawn and the Bantams are always scratching about, so the dry moss is a perfect, natural material for the birds, so I think this gets priority.

If you would like one of our red plastic 'nesting material containers' then just ask for one in the comments box when you place an order for any of the following.

Autumn Mix, Winter Mix, Spring Mix, Standard Mix, Wheat Free Mix, High Energy No Mess Mix, High Energy Ground and Table Mix, Blackbird and Thrush Food, Robin and Tit mix, Suet pellets, Suet blocks, Suet balls, nest boxes, Wildlife Habitats, Bird Table, Hanging Feeder Tray. Or when you order anything!

As part of our 'seasonal range' Spring Mix is the latest mix to be sold online by British Bird Food.

A dark mix without any Wheat to keep you free from corn growth and also reduce Pigeon activity around your feeder (the Sparrows tend to throw the Wheat around and this encourages the Pigeons). Plenty of Black Sunflower seeds (these are softer then the Striped variety) so the hungry parents can get some much needed energy whilst they flit between feeding their young and a quick snack for themselves. Spring Mix also contains added protein granules, so the parents and young fledglings can get a much needed boost to their energy sapping activity at this time of year. We have added some Oyster shell fine grit, to help with strong egg shells, and the final ingredient is mixed suet, a firm favourite of ours in giving the birds a really effective energy boost.

So if you like the sound of our Spring Mix you can order online now, or you might like to try a free sample, just go to the Spring Mix page and select free sample and we will include one with your order.

The Goldfinch has to be one of our most colourful (and therefore the most popular) of our wild garden birds.

You can find out more about the Goldfinch by looking at our bird guide, where we go into more detail, but what we find most customers seek is the secret ingredient that will bring the Goldfinch flocking to your garden.

Goldfinches tend to stay in a group (called a Charm), outside the breeding season. Like all garden birds their main goal in life is to eat sleep and breed. So in order to attract them you should try and facilitate as much of the natural pre-requisites that you can.

In terms of eating, Goldfinches are very fond on Niger Seed (requiring a special Niger seed feeder) and Sunflower Hearts and if you have a feeder with one or the other (or both if you are really keen) of these foods in, then you are on the right path. Goldfinches tend to have a small area of territory and so if they are in your area they will eventually find your feeders, but this may take a few weeks, so be patient. Once they have started to visit your garden, if you have the right food for them, they will tend to return every day. However don't be alarmed if they disappear for a few weeks. They will depart to find a new territory to breed in and also they will find other people's feeders in the mean time. They will return, but in the mean time don't let the food in the feeder go stale. If other birds are not eating the Niger (the Sunflower Hearts will be the chosen food of many species) then change the seed in your feeder after three weeks or so. It is also important to maintain god hygiene in your feeders, clean them with a brush once every month, and wash them every three months. Feeder Fresh is an anti damp product that you can put in the feeder to stop the seed going mouldy in damp conditions and will save a lot of seed (and cost) in the long run.

The other vital ingredient for attracting any birds to your garden is clean drinking water, change it daily and avoid freezing in the winter.

In terms of attracting breeding pairs, there is not a lot to be done, Goldfinches prefer hedgerows to nest boxes, so if you do have a hedge, don't trim it too hard after March (see quick facts below for breeding times) if Goldfinches do choose your garden to set up a nest and breed, give them plenty of space, they are very timid birds and although they look aggressive when they fight each other on the feeder this is just to sort out the pecking order, when nesting, if they get disturbed they are very likely to desert the nest and it's contents.

Remember to always use good quality Niger seed from a reputable source, many pet shops have stocks that last years. Your nose can easily be the judge, the same with Peanuts and mixed seed and Sunflower Hearts, you should only be able to smell the seed, no musty or stale smell. If your seed is not fresh then the birds will simply go to the next feeder they can find and you are back to square one.

One of the key things to remember is they are wild creatures and hunting for food on a daily basis is what life is all about. If they come to you feeder and find it empty they will write off your garden as a food source and go somewhere else (even if the feeder is empty for only one day).

So, the key principles are.

• Always use fresh food from a reputable source.
• keep your feeders toped up.
• Feed Niger seed and / or Sunflower Hearts.
• Fresh clean water for drinking and bathing.
• Clean feeders regularly.

• Some old rural names for Goldfinches are King Harry, Gold Linnet, Redcap, Goldie. One old name, Thistle Finch, indicates the bird’s favourite food.
• Carduelies  carduelies is the scientific name of the Goldfinch.  It is derived from the Latin Carduus, meaning  thistle
• Young Goldfinches are known as grey pates because they lack the red face of the adult.
• There are just three species of Goldfinches in the world including two species in America.
• In spring they will eat small insects, although they are primarily vegetarian, feeding on seeds.
• After rearing two sometimes three broods, the Goldfinch start flocking as they are highly social birds.
• Many thousands of birds may, from time to time, flock in the autumn.
• The collective name for the Goldfinch is a ‘charm’. This describes the birds’ twittering song.
• The male Goldfinch has a longer beak than the female and so can feed on teasels, something the female rarely tries to do.
• Numerous European flocks are migratory  flying to the Mediterranean for the winter.

Number in Britain	Conservation Status UK	Status in UK	Length	Wingspan	Weight	Habitat	First Record
600,000	Green	Resident Breeder/ Migrant	12cm	24cm	17g	Woodland, farmland, open country .Also found in Reed beds	8th Century

Egg Size	Egg Weight	Clutch Size	Incubation	Fledging	Number of broods	First clutch laid	Age at First Breeding	Typical Lifespan	Maximum Recorded Age
17x13mm	1.5 g	5 eggs	13-15  days	14-17 days	2	Late April	1 year	2 years	8y 8m

Not many people go to the trouble of protecting their birds from the rain when they are feeding, but it has to be said, that when the rain is driving in, the seed can get wet and the birds do seem to stay a little longer when the rain is kept off them by using a Seattle Rain Guard.

When the young fledglings start to feed from your feeders they will gain in confidence if they are protected from the rain for a while and this will encourage them to stay with you in your garden a little longer.

Most tube feeders will take our seed mixes and be able to fit the Seattle Rain Guard but you might like to look at New Generation feeders, Ring Pull feeders,Onyx feeders as well as our mixed seed and staight seed section.

The rain guard dome, mounts on top of 2.5 inch feeder tubes to protect the tube, seed, and birds form the weather. It includes a spring clamp to hold it in place, and will fit Droll Yankees, New Generation, Classics, Bird Lovers, and Ring Pull feeders.

Key attributes:-

• Excellent value
• Durable construction.
• 10inch in diameter
• Easy to fit 

We have two nests of Blackbirds in the garden and the first has hatched three chicks in the last couple of days.

We have been watching her sit for some time now, and as I walked past the nest last night she flew off, as they have made a nest in an Ivy on a wall alongside the path to our veg plot, all of which makes it hard work now, because until the chicks are stronger we will have to walk around the other way (twice as far) to get to that part of the garden! When sitting on eggs birds will sit in the face of danger to the extent of almost being touched, they are very brave and seem to put themselves in a sort of trance, however as soon as they hatch the mother and father turn into feeding machines, and fly to and fro between the nest and food source. They are quite nervous, and it does not take too much disturbance to frighten them off the nest and abandon the chicks. It is not a measurable thing, so you can't really say what level of disturbance will cause them to leave. But we find it best to air on the side of caution and leave well alone until we know the chicks have fledged. So if the nest is on the side of a path we will give it a wide girth or walk the other way if possible.

Of course the parents are now busy feeding on our Blackbird and Thrush Food , fed from a ground feeder tray. They enjoy the Suet Pellets contained in the mix, and then go around the garden looking for other food like worms and insects for the chicks.

April and through the summer are the key times to be aware of the birds in your garden and where they are nesting. When you have been in your house for a few years and you get to know the lay of the land you find out where your birds are and work around them, as best you can, however, when you move house it is so easy to want to get in the garden and put your stamp on it. The danger is that the birds have settled in to a bush or shrub and made it their nest site, the rest needs no further explanation.

There are several ways of helping your birds settle in to your garden.

•       Nest boxes are a great way to attract birds, there are many types, but the most important factor is to point them North / North East.
•       Provide fresh drinking water every day, even in the winter. (Just wait and see what we have got coming soon!)
•       Provide a bathing area, this could be anything from an ice cream tub with a stone in it to an ornamental fountain.
•       Your birds will appreciate a varied diet, you might try different seed mixes as well as Sunflower Hearts and Peanuts. Suet balls, pellets and blocks are always a good source of high energy. A good way of providing a varied seed diet is our Seasonal range of Autumn, Winter and Spring mixes.

At nesting time birds need a source of bedding and if you have pets it is a perfect way to use pet hair after grooming. Just put it in a wire mesh or old peanut feeder so they can help themselves. We put ours under an outbuilding roof so it keeps dry for them.

It is quite alright to watch your birds in their daily duties, but don't let them be disturbed by getting too close, or the children being too inquisitive and never touch the nest or eggs.

Enjoy the natural spectacle of wild birds in your garden.

British Bird Food recommends all year round feeding for your garden birds.

Winter feeding is most popular due to natural food sources being in short supply, but shortages can also occur at any time of the year and your garden birds need a regular supply of high energy food to give them the best chance of survival, therefore its safe and recommended to feed all year round.

By giving the birds a regular uninterrupted supply of food and water to supplement their natural diet, you will ensure at times of high demand - breeding, extreme weather or rearing of their young that they have a better chance of survival.

Regular feeding all year round is also beneficial as birds return time after time to take advantage of the ready food supply. Stopping this supply will result in birds having to search for a new supply wasting time and energy that they desperately need for other activities.

As a bird watcher it is also beneficial to keep your garden visitors coming back regularly to feast in your garden.

Bird feeding in Spring & summer months.

These are demanding months for your birds as they build their nests, lay eggs, rear their young & moult. Supplementing their natural diet during this period will help them during these demanding months and bring its rewards.

Birds during this period will benefit from high protein foods such as black sunflowers, sunflower hearts, suet pellets & suet blocks with added berries & insects, our Spring mix is available now, as well as other seed mixes. Peanuts are also a popular great source of protein.

It is true that natural food is generally in greater supply during these summer months but so is the demand, and that is why you help, by supplying a constant regular supply of food.

 
Feeding wild birds in Autumn & winter months.

Food and water should be kept available during the autumn & winter months, paying particular attention to ensure food is replenished regularly. Establish a feeding pattern and try to maintain it in order that your birds know where to find a reliable food source.

In extreme weather conditions whether feeding from a bird table, the ground or a feeder ensure you have food available throughout the day, but especially in the morning when their energy reserves are low, and late afternoon when they need to build a reserves for the cold night ahead.

Birds require high energy, high fat foods during the cold winter weather in order to maintain their bodies reserves to see them through the night. Suet is ideal, and can be served in many guises, like suet balls and suet blocks or suet pellets. Our Autumn mix and Winter mix are designed to provide all the nutrition required for this time of year.

How long to store and keep wild bird food. 

Our first seasonal mix, Autumn Mix was well received, and our Winter mix vary popular, and now, we are pleased to announce the latest in our seasonal range - Spring Mix. A wheat free mix, with the addition of Suet pellets, protein granules and Oyster grit, this mix is designed to sustain your garden birds through the busy nesting, breeding and egg laying season from March through to July. With our seasonal range of wild bird food, you can enjoy the peace of mind, that your birds will be feeding on the optimum mix at the correct time of year. This was one of the founding reasons we set up the business, because a lot of companies seem to want to just pump out standard mixes, well the reallity is, your garden birds need a varied diet and appropriate supplements at various times of the year. It is not difficult to do, it is all about care for the birds, and customers. We are very happy to take the time and make the effort to give our customers the best quality mixes and the best service at very competitive prices.

We hope you try our seasonal range for yourself, we often give a free sample with each order, or you can make sure you get one by checking the free sample button on the Spring Mix page.

It has to be one of the most sought after items in our shop. The Squirrel proof feeder. There are several styles to choose from and we will go though them here.

The main difference between the two types of Squirrel proof feeders are the one which has the cage around the feeder, thus preventing access to the food. The other type is the spring loaded feeder, it has a pre-set balance and when the Squirrel climbs on it the outer shroud slides down and the access to the feeder port is closed.

Our range of Squirrel proof feeders is from two top quality manufactures and both offer extensive guarantees.

The Nuttery supply the caged feeders. They come in all shapes and sizes and they all come with a lifetime guarantee.

The Nuttery range of Squirrel proof feeders all come with the same size cage holes, so there is no need to worry about the birds not being able to gain access, the size of the cage is a precise science and has been established by the Nuttery over many years. All garden birds including Woodpeckers can easily fit through the cage to access the feed. So the main decision comes down to style and size of feeder. There are too many to list here, but go to our Squirrel proof feeder category and explore the range we have.

The spring loaded feeders are manufactured by Brome Bird Care. They are a Canadian based company and have a proven track record for reliability and effectiveness. There are only four feeders in the Squirrel Buster range, the Mini, the Classic, the Finch and the impressive, Squirrel Buster Plus. As described above the Squirrel Buster range have a spring loaded outer shroud, the sensitivity of which can be altered to suit your garden environment (except the Mini). The deterrent for the Squirrel is simple, he jumps on and the shroud drops down over the food, in two or three days he will get bored and leave your bird feeding station alone and go elsewhere.

With so many to chose from and with the feeders on offer, we hope you will stay with British Bird Food for your Squirrel proof feeder purchase, and come back to us for all your garden bird food requirements.

Well, despite the weather it seems Spring really is here. Last Tuesday 30th March saw the first hatching of our Robin eggs in the garden nest box. Our Robin nest box is well established amongst the ivy on the wall of our Ice house.

Since last Tuesday the parents have been very busy flitting to and from the garden bird feeding station and scratting about on the garden soil.

If you would like to know more about the Robin we have a bird guide and some facts and figures. They love Mealworms and we have many customers who train the Robin to feed from their hand on Mealworms. Of course they love our Robin and Tit food, as well as the standard range of mixes. It is most important to maintain their diet now, they need lots of energy to continue to travel to the nest and back to the food for the young ones. Suet is a very high energy food and we have offers on suet pellets, standard suet balls and giant suet balls at the moment.

My observer window feeder is brilliant at this time of year, as I sit and write this article I have seen a Robin, Blue Tit and a Great Tit all come and take a little morsel from the feeder. At the moment we have 5 Goldfinches feeding on the Niger feeders and two very busy Dunnocks clearing up below the feeders, they don't get much time before the Bantams come along and chase them off. Our five Bantams have got the hang of watching for birds to land on the feeders, and they come running over the yard to sweep the ground below the feeders.

Whilst we at BBF will maintain a full ordering service as usual. The courier network closes down for the duration, this means our last despatch is Thursday and this will be delivered on Tuesday, there after service will be returned to next day as normal.

We are sorry about this, but it does give you even more time to look over our shop and pick up some great deals.

We have great prices on Berry suet pellets, Insect suet pellets, Peanut suet pellets and Mixed suet pellets. You can buy 100 suet balls and get a second box half price, as well as 36 Giant suet balls for £36. Our Mealworms are at better than half price. If you don't want to buy 20Kg bags of each - our Combi pack of 10Kg Peanuts and 10Kg High energy no mess mix is at a special price, as well as the Peanuts and Sunflower Hearts both being on offer. Many of our feeders and accessories are on offer as we continue to do what we promised from the start, to bring you great value on top quality wild bird products for you and your garden birds to enjoy.

Our suet pellets are already at a reduced price but we are now able to offer selected lines at an even better special offer price - entirely due to the larger quantities we are buying now. So, as we said from the beginning we want to share the benefit with you our customers.
This week it is berry and mixed suet pellets that are added to the Insect suet pellet offer of last week,but we will extend the offer again next week! Watch this space.
 
10Kg Insect suet pellets was £29.49 - down to £25.00
15Kg Insect suet pellets was £36.49 - down to £32.00
20Kg Insect suet pellets was £47.50 - down to £40.50
25Kg Insect suet pellets was £59.45 - down to £50.00 
 
Suet pellets are a perfect food for your wild garden birds at this time of year. They are packed full of energy for the nesting birds, who need every once they can get. You can mix suet pellets with other wild bird seed mixes, for example our Standard mix or the Standard - Plus, or the  Wheat Free options, you can mix it with Robin and Tit Food and Premium mix. Our Autumn Conditioner mix and the Blackbird and Thrush mix already have suet pellets mixed in.
 
Tip :- If you feed Suet pellets on their own (even in a tube feeder) don't let them get wet, as they will congeal together. I have found that if you use a peanut feeder, and slide a clear plastic tube into it (pop bottle) this works a treat. If you like the idea but are not sure what to do, order a peanut feeder and say in the customer comments box that you would like to have it converted for suet feeding and we will do it free of charge. It might sound a bit 'Heath Robinson' but it works - and is a cheap option!

Yesterday, 21st March was the first time this year that I have found a Robin sitting on her nest. This is slightly later than last year, but non the less a welcome sight. She has occupied an old nest box that has become overgrown with Ivy, which makes it one of those perfect locations you only find if you know where they are. The box is just high enough for me to peek into and so I will watch her closely and when I am passing by, if she is not on the nest I will be able to see how many eggs she has. I will also be watching out in about 14 days time, as this is when she will be hatching and be in need of good energy providing food, like our Robin and Tit Food, or Winter mix, both contain the mealworms she loves and I must ensure there is a clean supply of water for her when she needs that too.

She paid me a short visit earlier today, as I was writing to a customer, she came and fed on my Observer Window Feeder, which at the moment contains Wheat Free Plus mix, she came twice and had a good feed before heading off over the other side of the garden to her nest. We also have a Wren nesting in the settle and I have seen her about the garden this morning busy scooting from one place to the other collecting nesting material. So we have put the fur from our dog grooming in a peanut feeder so all the birds can access it for their nests. I have Blue Tit nest boxes as well as Multi nest boxes around the garden and will hope to see some activity around them in the nest week or so.

The range of Squirrel Buster feeders has been extended to four now. There is the small Squirrel Buster Mini, ideal for small gardens and is for seed only. Then there is the Squirrel Buster Classic, a lovely feeder that will cope with both seed and peanuts. The third in the range was introduced a few months ago in reaction for the need of a Niger feeder that is Squirrel proof, that is called the Squirrel Buster Finch and as its name suggests, it is designed to take Niger seed. The last and largest, is the Squirrel Buster Plus.

This feeder is a mighty 440mm high wih 6 feeding ports and will cater for feeding 3.8 litres of seed and Peanuts.

The Squirrel Buster Plus operates in the same way as the rest of the range, a weighted spring that can be adjusted to suit the weight difference of your birds to that of the Squirrel, this allows you to set it so the larger birds can feed without the feeder ports being closed, but when the Squirrel gets on, the outer case simply slides down and covers the feed ports. The Squirrel will try his luck for a few days then get bored and find another source of food.

The Squirrel Buster Plus has an option for the feeding positions of the birds, it comes complete with a 'Cardinal Ring' (a Canadian Finch) which fits on to the perches so as to form a facing perch for those birds who prefer that position, the ring is in two parts, so you can fit the ring to either all, or half of the straight perches, this gives your birds the option of finding their own preferred feeding position.

The  Squirrel Buster Plus has a two year guarantee and is on offer now at BBF.

The Recommended Retail Price for this feeder is £51.95 and is available today at British Bird Food for only £39.95.

A perfect present for any garden bird watcher.

Our suet pellets are already at a reduced price but we are now able to offer selected lines at an even better special offer price - entirely due to the larger quantities we are buying now. So, as we said from the beginning we want to share the benefit with you our customers.
This week it is Insect suet pellets but we will extend the offer next week. Watch this space.
 
10Kg Insect suet pellets was £29.49 - down to £25.00
15Kg Insect suet pellets was £36.49 - down to £32.00
20Kg Insect suet pellets was £47.50 - down to £40.50
25Kg Insect suet pellets was £59.45 - down to £50.00 
 
Insect suet pellets are a perfect food for your wild garden birds at this time of year. They are packed full of energy for the nesting birds, who need every once they can get. You can mix suet pellets with other wild bird seed mixes, for example our Standard mix or the Standard - Plus, or the  Wheat Free options, you can mix it with Robin and Tit Food and Premium mix. Our Autumn Conditioner mix and the Blackbird and Thrush mix already have suet pellets mixed in.
 
Tip :- If you feed Suet pellets on their own (even in a tube feeder) don't let them get wet, as they will congeal together. I have found that if you use a peanut feeder, and slide a clear plastic tube into it (pop bottle) this works a treat. If you like the idea but are not sure what to do, order a peanut feeder and say in the customer comments box that you would like to have it converted for suet feeding and we will do it free of charge. It might sound a bit 'Heath Robinson' but it works - and is a cheap option!

As the winter at last starts to fade into spring, the mornings are cold but bright and the mid morning sun starts to have a little warmth to it. The birds in your garden have only one thing on their minds - starting a family (or two!).
The Blackbirds have paired up and are starting to build their nests already, but the smaller birds, Robin, Blue Tit, and Great Tit etc are deep into the pairing stage and want to find a nest to invite their mate to share.
A Robin will prefer an open fronted box, whilst the Blue Tit will go into a small hole (25mm diameter) the Great Tit will like a slightly larger 28mm hole. The nest boxes we sell are geared to precisely these measurements, we also stock a multi nest box which will house any of the three options.
It is important to remember that by offering a nest box to your birds they will become reliant to some extent on you feeding them, and when they produce young ones they will go to your feeders first. So once you start to feed, it is best to keep to the same mix for the next few months. The nest building stage requires lots of gathering of materials and so the birds need lots of energy producing food. Suet is ideal for this and can be feed neat as Pellets, or as a ball with seeds inside, or as a block. The birds will need seeds to keep a balanced diet and any of our seed mixes will do this job. Our Standard mix is economical to use, our Premium mix has Aniseed in it, whilst the Standard and Wheat Free - Plus mixes have added vitamin and protein supplements. The higher value seed mixes like the Autumn Conditioner and Winter mix have everything the birds need to help them through the entire season and can be fed on their own, to provide all the nutrients the birds need. Straight seeds like Sunflower Hearts and Peanuts are very high oil content and so provide much needed calorific energy boosts, but are only part of the bird’s diet requirement and should be feed alongside a seed mix if you want to provide a full diet for you birds.
By this time of year you should have cleaned out the nest boxes, but it is not too late yet, just take out the old nest and give the box a good brushing inside and out, don't wash inside, as this will cause mould to grow if they build a nest soon after you have washed it. Then wait and see, don't disturb the box again until next winter.
 

The Observer Window Feeder is a lovely little feeder. Designed to stick on to your window and with a clever suction holder that allows you to take down the bird feeder for cleaning and filing, without removing the suckers from the window.
Made from hard wearing clear plastic the bowl is ideal for clinging birds such as Blue Tits and Robins. We have found the Robin and Tit mix to be an ideal accompaniment for this feeder. It has a roof to prevent rain falling directly in to it.
One tip for placement of the bird feeder, is to ensure there are no large birds that sit close by, this will frighten the small birds away, so chose a spot that is not too open in its aspect. When your birds start feeding from the Observer Window feeder you will see just how close they get. My Observer Window feeder is just in front of my desk, and so they are about two feet from me when they come and feed. We get Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Sparrows in our feeder (not to mention the odd Bantam! trying her luck)
We also feed Winter mix, Autumn Conditioner, Wheat free mix, and Wheat free plus mix (added protein) plus some Niger seed and Sunflower Hearts. All go into the Observer Window Feeder.
 

The Gardman camera nest box is a fully functional black and white CCTV camera, hidden in the roof of a sturdy nest box and is on offer at the moment for just £74.95.

When you buy any wild bird food, seed mix or garden bird feeder, why not consider a Camera Nest Box - this CCTV camera bird nest box, with built in sound and night vision, comes from market leaders Gardman, and is as simple to install as plugging in, and switching on! The camera and microphone are pre-installed and set up ready to start filming, remove the lens cap, plug in the connectors, and, action! - you are up and running.

With the latest technology in infra-red vision it is possible to achieve black and white pictures with sound, from inside the nest box, day, and night. The only tools required are a hammer and nail to hang the box from a suitable site, there is 20 meters of cable supplied as standard. The nest box entrance hole is 32mm in diameter, this will encourage Sparrows, Great Tits, Blue Tits, and Nuthatches, and the roof is hinged for easy cleaning once a year.

The nest box is made from 100% FSC timber, and comes complete with instructions on how to set it up and begin watching the wonder of nature, from the very first egg pipping, to feeding, fledging and away.

British Bird Food stock and supply a wide range of wild bird accessories, wild bird food and bird feeders - browse more of our products

Even though the sun is shinning during the day, most of the Spring plants are yet to show their heads to us. In the mornings it is still well below freezing and the ground is hard. The early morning is the time of day when your garden birds are looking for food, so it is really important to continue to feed them for some time yet, especially during the breeding season.

The next stage for the wild birds is pairing off and starting to nest build. Now is the time to fix your nest boxes in the garden clean them out and make sure they are facing the right direction - North East.

Always trying to make your shopping experience easier and quicker for you, we have added a repeat order option in the my account area.

Simply click on my account, enter your details to log in and you will see several options, select 'view orders' and you will see a summary list of your previous orders, to the right of the list you will see 'repeat order' just click on this button and you will go straight to your shopping basket and ...... hey presto! your selected order is in your basket.

This option will make it easy to repeat multi item orders and if you want to add more, just click on 'continue shopping' and off you go again.

Spring is in the air and right now we have offers on Suet products, peanuts, sunflower hearts, feeding accessories, nest boxes and lots more. Also with British Bird Food you will get returnable packaging and fantastic customer service. Why not enter our competition while you are here? it is free you know?

We offer you a free sample of our latest winter mix with your order just click the button on the winter mix page.

Our latest mix, called Winter Mix is designed to provide maximum calorific values for your garden birds and it is fine to keep on feeding right through the year.

We also have our Autumn Conditioner mix and this is also designed to keep on feeding your wild birds throughout the year. You may have guessed, we have a Spring and Summer mix planned for launch later in the year!

Our Winter Mix contains mealworms, Sunflower Hearts, Granulated Peanuts, Suet Pellets and is perfect for feeding both small and large wild birds all year round.

We love to hear from our customers so please do pick up the phone for a free call on 08001216024 or use our contact form and send us an e-mail.

If you don't like using your credit card on the internet you can use our print order form button which can be found bottom left on the home page. Or you can proceed with your order and use the shopping basket information by selecting "Print mail order form" button at the end of the checkout procedure page, you can then pay by cheque via our free post address.

British Bird Food announces yet another special offer for you.

Buy 36 Giant suet balls for only £36. At only £1 each that is a terrific price. Our Giant suet balls come wrapped in plastic for your convenience.

Suet is an increasingly popular food for our wild birds, it is high in energy and is good to feed throughout the year. We now have both our sizes of suet balls on offer, as the standard suet balls are on offer as buy one get the second half price. This is in addition to the suet pellet price reduction already in action. We will have to think of an offer for the suet blocks soon, just to complete the set!

In these cold months our Winter Mix is proving very popular, it is the one stop shop for your wild bird food. Other popular mixes are the High energy no mess, Robin Food, Autumn Conditioner, Standard and Standard plus as well as the Wheat free and Wheat free plus. All our mixes come to you in small returnable or re-usable packaging and delivery is free on orders over £75

Recently British Bird Food has been sending out a free Sunflower head with some orders.

The heads are from a local Shropshire farm and have been dried to preserve them.

So far feedback from customers has been very positive. we will look into supplying the sunflowers next year, in the mean time we have lots of Sunflower Hearts on special offer at £31 for 20Kg. As well as Peanuts and Niger seed in our straights section we have also added Granulated Peanuts to our stock.

In the mixed seed department we have our new mix - Winter Mix, with its' ultra high energy no mess composition it is the one stop shop for your birds. We have received great comment on this new mix and we offer a free sample with each order, just select the button on the Winter Mix page.

Our Mealworms are on offer at the moment and just by reducing the packaging used in many garden centre outlets we have been able to offer them at less that half price.

Don't forget that we deliver anywhere in the UK the next day and you get free delivery on all orders over £75.

British Bird Food is a young company and we are always looking to bring new products to our customers, so this last week we have moved in to pet treats and chews and taken on a second market stall at Ludlow market every Wednesday and Friday. We still continue to sell the wild bird food and garden bird food mixes such as High energy no mess and Wheat Free Plus mix, let alone the Finch Food mix and autumn conditioner, suet balls and suet blocks as well as the ever popular coco nut halves filled with suet.

Now we offer all sorts of pet chews and treats for your dog. Come and say hello. We still have the wildlife boxes and nest boxes, as well asthe straight seeds like Peanuts, Niger Seed and Sunflower Hearts.

The large stock of bird feeders is available on the internet we have all sorts of Squirrel proof feeders as well as special bird feeders.

British Bird Food is always looking for ways to expand the offers we have for our customers, as well as Wild Bird Food, Nest boxes, wildlife habitats, garden bird accessories, Suet food for birds and wild bird feeders. We are now venturing in to the world of pet food.

Let us know what you would like to see us sell by contacting us. We always listen to our customers and you can see wht they think to us on our feedback page.

We will let you know more as soon as we have talked in detail to our local customers about what sort of products we should start selling on our web site.

All our food comes to you in re-usable packaging and is delivered the next day. Try a service with a difference - we care about you!

The annual nest box week runs from 14th to 21st February 2010.

We keep a large stock of nest boxes for next day delivery, here, at British Bird Food.

Get involved by contacting BTO and Jacobi Jayne for further details.

We continue to add items to our stock all the time. This week we have brought in the feeding station patio stand and the hanging feeder tray, for you to bring your garden birds even closer.

The Patio stand is made in rugged material and weighs in at 11Kg so will hold your feeding station well. It will fit all our poles and feeding station kits and is great value at £22.99.

Gardman's hanging feeder tray is 240mm in diameter and has elegant gold scroll design clasps for the chain to hang from. It will sit well under your bird table. An ideal gift at under £10 and a great accompaniment for our Blackbird and Thrush food.

Tiger Aspect are appealing for pets with problems to appear on a new TV programme. Please see atatched PDF file.

Here at British Bird Food we like to think that we are close enough to our customers to hear what they would like to see in our store. We have been asked many times for the suet filled coconut halves and we have been selling them for some time on our market stall, so it makes sense to sell them on line, but we have done it at the market stall price!

Granulated peanuts are a very popular food, they are efficient and very high in oils. Small birds love them as well as the larger species.

Our latest mix is Wheat free plus. A standard wheat free mix but with the addition of a protein supplement, ideal for winter and breeding seasons alike. If variety is the spice of life - try this mix with your birds and see what they think.

We have developed this mix - called Winter mix, by paying close attention to the nutritional demands on our birds during the winter months. We have mealworms, Suet pellets, Sunflower hearts, kibbled peanuts, Safflower and many more included in the blending . This mix will not grow nor will there be any mess. It will flow easily through a tube feeder, or sit happily on the table or ground tray.

In short we think we have made a mix that suits all types of birds and is a one stop shop for them to fill their tanks whist visiting your garden. Winter mix was introduced in early January and is an exclusive mix for British Bird Food, we are already receiving some excellent feedback from the first users.

The latest products in our online shop are an addition to the Ring Pull range of easy clean feeders and a Little Owl Box.

The range of three sizes in the Niger feeder version of the Ring Pull range from Jacobi Jayne & Co complete the latest in design tachnology for easy clean feeders. They operate by a long pin that connects the seed baffles, simply pull the pin and the inside of the tube becomes totally accessable for cleaning. Replacement of the pin is quick and easy.

Available in 180mm, 360mm and 540mm (2,4 and 6 port) they are a beautiful adition to our ever increasing range of wild bird feeders.

The Gardman Little Owl Box complements our range of wildlife nest boxes and habitats. It is a sturdy constructiion from FSC wood and will be attractive to larger birds such as Woodpecker, Dove and Kestrel.

We have had lots of requests for a suet ball feeder that is Squirrel and large bird resistant and now we are please to say The Nuttery has risen up to the challenge.

The NT47 holds 6 suet balls and the strurdy metal cage around the inner mesh will withstand the antics of the hungry Squirrel. Built to last, as you might expect form The Nuttery the NT47 has a lifetime Guarantee. This is one of three oval feeders in the Squirrel proof range, the Peanut and Suet Block and the other suet ball feeder is the NT48, Daisy fat ball feeder. All in all they make a tidy job of modern design coupled with sturdy practical feeders.

Now that the veg plot is almost empty, we move in a few pigs to start off the clearing up process (as well as some much need manure!).This year is no exception and we took delivery of three cross breed (Gloucester Old Spot crossed Large White) piglets last week.

They will spend the first month in a purpose built sty, after which they will be let loose on the veg patch, which is now covered in weeds, ready for the piglets to devour.

The pigs are lovely at this time, it is hard not to get attached, they all have their own character, but the closest we get is to name them - 1,2,and 3!

They will stay with us until around Easter, at which time it will be time for them to vacate the plot, and let me in with the spade.

We are committed to increasing the range of products we offer to you. This month we have extended our range of Gardman products with the introduction of the Orchard range of feeders and nest box, as well as the self assembly bird table -- an ideal Christmas gift, as it comes in a full colour presentation box and requires only to be put together, no saw required! we have also added to our range of wildlife habitats with the bat box.

We are currently working on the next new seed mixes, one for winter, and an alternative Wheat Free mix, all will be revealed when our extensive product research is completed (this means when we have tested them on our own garden birds!)

We are due to finish our current Daisy fat ball feeder competition this month. The next competition, and the winner of this one, will be announced in the November Newsletter at the end of the month.

Latest Squirrel deterrent has arrived

Starting with the affordable Mini for seed, then we have the versatile Classic which can accommodate both seed and nuts, you can now enjoy the same level of Squirrel protection for your Finch Food. The Squirrel Buster Finch has 4 ports, but cleverly they have designed it with only two perches, this leaves the mesh for the birds to cling to for the other two, and they will enjoy the game of finding the best vantage point from any angle. The generous Squirrel Buster Plus holds a chunky 3.8 litres of seed and has six access ports with a detachable perch ring that gives the birds the choice of stance when feeding. All the Squirrel Buster range have adjustable weight trigger points giving you the control of which visitors get shut out from the seed.

First ultra-premium bird feeder

"Why didn't they do that before?" has to be the first question when you see how easy and effective the Click-2-Clean removable base system is on the Onyx range. Droll Yankees have ripped up the 'old school' book and taken a fresh look at how to feed the birds, not only have they made cleaning a matter of seconds, but the new look versatile perches and feed ports allow the birds to chose how they wish to stand to feed.
 

Feed the Birds Day reminds us about all the things we can do to help birds and other garden wildlife through the winter.
The last winter (2008/9) was one of the harshest we’ve had for many years, forcing many more birds into our gardens. Any help you provided will have been even more important - and very welcome!
Come along to a Feed the Birds Day event
For 2009, RSPB are hoping to run over 100 Feed the Birds Day events across the UK over the weekend of 24-25 October where you can go along and meet staff and volunteers to find out what you can do for birds and other wildlife in and around your home.
Top five tips
We’re pretty good at providing fast food for birds and this is certainly a life saver in the cold snow covered countryside. But what about ‘slow food?‘ There are so many things you can do in your garden to provide food for all wildlife. And Autumn is a great time to plant something for wildlife.
• Plant native plants such as hawthorn, ivy and honeysuckle that will provide berries in the winter for adult birds, and insects for young birds in spring
• Make a log pile – it will be the ideal place for insects, fungi, mosses and lichens
• Provide an insect home – insects will spend the winter in these
• Install nesting boxes for birds such as house sparrows, winter hibernation places for hedgehogs.
• Create a water feature such as a pond or bog garden - much wildlife relies on a regular supply of freshwater
Three of our most familiar birds - the house sparrow, starling and song thrush have large populations in our gardens and need our help.

Feeding birds
What food can be left out for birds, and how can you keep your feeding station hygienic and pest-free? Here you'll find the answers to all your bird feeding questions. More...

Reproduced by kind permission of the RSPB

We are delighted to announce the arrival of two new mixes to add to our range.

Autumn Conditioner mix is a blend of the highest energy providing ingredients, to help the birds prepare for the winter (our next mix will be a winter warmer!). A high proportion of Sunflower hearts, combined with suet pellets and mixed fruit make this mix truly appetising to your birds, and it can be fed through a tube feeder, as the fruit is selected for a small size, unlike some mixes that contain the cheaper large fruit, which will block in the feeder baffle. The young juveniles will appreciate the high energy content to get them ready for the long winter months, and the adults will be in need of a boost following the breeding season.

Finch Food is a natural progression from feeding straight Niger seed.With a high proportion of Niger in this mix we are ensuring that you appeal to the Gold and Green Finches, but by blending in Hemp, Canary, Millet, Black Rape, and Linseed we increase the scope of appeal to Bullfinch, Siskin, Hawfinch, Brambling and Redpoll. Feed through a Niger seed feeder, if you already feed Niger always test new mixes by putting the new mix in the bottom of the feeder, that way you will see which they are feeding on.
 

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2009, results.

Once again, this year the RSPB saw a record number of participants in the 30 year old birdwatch project.

The idea started for children in 1979, for them to stop and look at nature, for one hour, and record what birds they saw in their garden. The event proved so popular, that they have been repeating it ever since.

This year over half a million people took part, and the survey provides a quick insight in to the populations of birds in our gardens in Britain today. In all, 73 species of birds were recorded. These are the top ten birds seen in the Gardens of Britain, as recorded during one hour on the 23rd and 24th of February 2009.

1. The House Sparrow was the most common to be seen, but this is in contrast to its’ recent decline. There was an average of 3.70 sparrows per garden. Although they stay at the top of the table, house sparrow numbers have fallen by 63% since 1979.
2. An average of 3.21 starlings were seen per garden and they have suffered a decline of 79% since 1979. Not the most popular bird they are noisy and gragerious spending their time looking for easy meals on bird tables!
3. An average of 2.84 Blackbirds were seen per garden. The blackbirds’ population seems stable, as it has retained third place in the table.
4. Blue tits are another non-mover from 2008, with an average of 2.45 seen per garden.
5. With an average of 2.01 per garden, the chaffinch also held its 5th position, however, Since 1979, numbers have fallen by 33%.
6. Woodpigeons increased in numbers, to a mixed response from bird feeders! But nonetheless they are a British bird, and earn a place in the top ten garden birds. The survey showed an average of 1.85 seen per garden, It's increased by 825% since 1979.
7. The collared dove continues to increase in numbers with an average of 1.44 seen per garden, and a rise of 414% since 1979. Collared Doves seem a less aggressive and intrusive bird than the Woodpigeon, and are more accepted in the garden, although both birds like the taste of my Cabbage plants in April!
8. Great tits are another species continuing to enjoy an increase in numbers with a 56% increase since 1979, and an average of 1.40 seen per garden this year. Great tits are a popular bird to occupy nest boxes in British gardens, and prefer a 28mm diameter nest box entrance hole.
9. With an average of 1.36 per garden Robins are showing a decline of one place from last year. Robins will fight to the death defending their territories from other Robins.
10. Lastly, at number 10 is the long-tailed tit with an average of 1.34 seen per garden. Many people have commented about how many more of these birds are around, and now the survey backs up the theory. They are the only bird to have such a combination of tiny bill, round body, and a long stick-like tail.

We are very pleased with the support we have had so far with our innovative method of providing environmentally friendly packaging.
We started to get some of the re-usable bags back in early January, some from local people when they re-order, and others through the freepost system.
 
We are very careful with packaging, and look after it on the way into our business as well as on the route to you. So far we have re-used over 90% of the packaging we received. Only the bulk plastic bags have gone for recycling, all the cardboard and paper has been re-used. To date we have not received one complaint from our customers about us using our incoming packaging as outer packaging for our goods.

We do have specific boxes ready made for items like gift packs, and we do communicate with these customers to see if they prefer new or re-used packaging, in fact they love the initiative (and the choice). This is one area where the big companies can't compete with us, because we do everything by hand.
 
As long as we can carry on re-using our packaging, we are helping the environment, and keeping our prices down for you. After our first year, we will add up all the packaging we have saved, and let our customers know how much carbon we have saved with their help.
 

Thanks for your help so far,

Best regards from David and Belinda

BBF help out PTA

British Bird Food is helping the PTA’s around Britain to raise money for their School.

In an innovative way BBF have offered a deal to the Parent Teacher Association, whereby they can really exercise their entrepreneurial skills to sell bird food, and make a profit for the school. In addition to this BBF have committed to sizeable donations with each order.
This is believed to be the first promotion of its kind with bird food, and is featured in the NCPTA magazine spring edition.

Any bright eyed PTA members spotting an early opportunity to get ahead with their fund raising by reading this article can contact BBF and they will be the first to benefit.
Please see our contacts page

Nest box preparation

As early as January, the birds in your garden will be thinking about the nesting season.

This January 14th, we had a mild day, and from the first morning song it felt like spring was just around the corner. Now I can’t say if it is due to climate change, but the birds are preparing earlier each year, and this means we have some jobs to do in order to attract the birds to our gardens.

First job is to clean out last seasons’ nest box, and this should be done in early, to mid January. There are lots of types of boxes, but generally the principle is the same. Gain entry to the nesting area, by lifting the lid, or opening the front / back or unscrewing a section. This is a good time to point out the importance of selecting an easy access nest box, because some can be really awkward to clean. I always prefer the sort with a door in the front so you can open it up and get full access to the nest area.
Before putting your hand into a nest box, have a look to check there is not already an occupant. Not only birds use the boxes, and you might get a shock if a door mouse is curled up asleep!
It is best to put on some gloves, and remove the old nest in one handful. The old nest wants to be disposed of, either in the recycle dustbin, or incinerated. I avoid putting it in the compost heap, as it may be used as material for new nests and that can spread disease.
Next, take a stiff bristled brush (I usually have an old paint brush that is past its best) and brush out all the debris from the box. Check that mould is not present, and replace the box on its site.

If there is mould in the box, then you need to take the box and really give it a good scrub, inside and out. Then leave it in a dry, but airy place and let it dry thoroughly, this may take a few days, but the box needs to be thoroughly dry inside, before being replaced back to its site. The chances are that if mould was present, the inside of the box is just too well draft proofed, and this has allowed moisture to sit and go mouldy. In this case, drill 5 holes, each 2mm in diameter in the corners and centre of the base; this should prevent a recurrence of mould.

If you treat the external wood of your nest box, do so as early in the winter as possible, and leave outside, to allow the odour to recede. I never treat the inside of a nest box.

Produced by The Nuttery this video clip shows the antics of a Squirrel, and how determined they can be to get to the bounty!

Take a look - but please come back soon.

www.thenuttery.com/missionimpossible