Product Review: Everyday Bird Seed


This is the second (and final) post in the run up to this year's RSPB Garden Birdwatch (26-27th January) where I'm reviewing relevant products which you may find useful.

The birds are going mad on the feeders at the moment. It's not surprising after Friday's snow! So it's a 'thumbs up' (so to speak) from them for the Everyday bird food I'm trialling from Nottcutts. As you can see from the above picture, it's pretty similar to other bird feed mixes available on the market.

The main ingredient is wheat, followed by the black sunflower seeds, then kibbled maize, red dari (the commercial name for sorghum apparently) and white millet (reminds me of feeding my pet budgie when I was little). Vegetable oil's been added to get the calorific value up to 404 per 100g.

To be honest the birds are going for the peanut or sunflower seed only feeders first, then turning their attention to the mixed seed ones. At particularly busy times then everything on offer is popular. According to the packet, the seed mix is deemed most suitable for feeders (followed by tables and just a single star rating for ground) and is claimed to attract the widest variety of birds*.

In the past I've found quite a lot of the wheat gets missed by the birds and germinates to grow under where I have my bird feeders. To remedy this I also had a go at making some 'fat balls' by adding the feed to melted lard in a 50:50 ratio. I re-used the mince pie cases from Christmas to hold the resultant mixture, so the description 'fat ball' is rather tentative. The birds don't seem to mind though and it does seem to be reducing the amount of seed spilt. Thank goodness the chaffinches are around to hoover up what does reach the ground!

Overall verdict: the birds seem to like it, though I can't really see how this version differs that greatly from other similar mixes on the market. Therefore, it probably boils down to price and availability on whether this bird food is the choice for your bird feeders. I was going to give you details of an online discount voucher so you could try some for yourself, but I see Notcutts are revamping their website and sadly aren't taking orders at the moment. I'll put the details up on my Offers Page ready for future reference as the code is valid until June 2013.

* = listed as tits, bramblings, finches, bunting, dunnock, sparrow, linnet, nuthatch, siskin and yellowhammer. I'd say the blackbirds, thrushes, robins and pigeons round here don't turn their beaks up at it either ;)

Disclosure: I received a 1kg sample packet from Notcutts for independent review purposes.

Related Post: last week's review was of the identification guide, Birdsong.

If you're looking for guidance on how to make your garden more attractive to birds, you may also like to read my review of The Birdwatcher's Garden.

Comments

  1. Sue Garrett20 January 2013 at 11:01

    Our birds' favourites (especially the goldfinches) is sunflower hearts followed by Golden Chorus from Haiths I quote "aromatic blend of rowan and juniper berries with a crumbly moist softfood, which is just full of 100% edible (no-mess left) goodness!" Even hedgehogs love it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP20 January 2013 at 11:13

    Hi Sue - yes, ours really like the sunflower hearts too. However, I've found it's good to have a less popular mix on offer as well because I don't always get around to top up the feeders in time. I'm working on the philosophy that at least there's something on offer at all times :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous20 January 2013 at 11:47

    Hi Michelle, I've found exactly the same. Peanuts and sunflower seeds are the most popular at the moment, but I have chaffinches, blackbirds, pigeons and squirrels scooping up any seeds that great tits and robins eject onto the ground. Sue's Golden Chorus suggestion looks great -just wish I had a hedgehog in my garden too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jo@awholeplotoflove20 January 2013 at 12:30

    I'm sticking to sunflower seeds & peanuts after my current batch of seeds run out. I find the niger seeds far to messy so wont be using in the future. Apart from the fat balls & apples & pears that we put out for the blackbirds, thrushes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. HELENE20 January 2013 at 15:45

    As being completely new to feeding birds I find this very interesting, I will have to try out different types of seeds and see what the birds in my garden prefer, when they arrive - they haven't discovered my feeder yet!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous20 January 2013 at 20:38

    Hello!! Oddly enough we bought a new bird feeder from the RSPB shop at Leighton Moss over Christmas and not one peanut has been touched?? I think my garden birds have migrated! I love your post, it's very original and useful. I hope my birds come back so I can join the garden watch too!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shirley21 January 2013 at 09:04

    Same story on the mixed seeds v sunflower hearts here. Notcutts offered me this seed too but I had already accepted the RSPB seed so declined. Good to see you trying it. I agree mixed seeds are pretty much alike, on saying that I did genuinely find my trial seed to be my fav so far.

    I find I only ever look to mixed seed during the cold of winter when my garden gets invaded with large (50+) flocks of finches and other winter species pop in. I agree on using less popular seed for when the sunflower hearts go down too quickly too – it can be an expensive business feeding birds! On saying that, I get a lot of pleasure seeing my winter visitors :-D

    ReplyDelete
  8. VP21 January 2013 at 10:08

    Naomi - don't talk to me about squirrels - they're a real pest here :(

    awholeplotoflove - apples - yes! They're a great way of using up some of our windfalls and the blackbirds love them :)

    Helene - ours took a while to come too, but I can assure you they will come as long as your feeders are safely situated so there isn't a danger from potential predators.

    digtheoutside - I'm sure the birds will come, especially after all the snow we've had.

    Shirley - I thought your post was very interesting and very detailed (unlike mine) sadly my little point and shoot camera isn't up to the kind of video that you shared with everyone. It's not even up to stills shots of the birds, unless you like looking at small dots!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anna21 January 2013 at 12:07

    Will look out for this on my travels VP but having just read Shirl's review about the RSPB product may try that first - apparently the squirrels don't like it :) One of those dear creatures has made off with a coconut feeder this morning. Thanks for your review.

    ReplyDelete
  10. VP21 January 2013 at 12:56

    Anna - I spotted that too. Bearing in mind most of my bird feed gets eaten by squirrels, that's a very important point to bear in mind. And before someone kindly suggests using squirrel proof feeders, I've comprehensively proved they don't work :/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Arabella Sock22 January 2013 at 16:21

    We spent some time being assured by a woman serving us in a shop that the bird seed mix we were buying wouldn't germinate. It was the most expensive mix but not only do the birds not like it but it is actually sprouting in the feeder which is a new one on me. I wonder if there is such a thing as a non-germinating mix?

    ReplyDelete
  12. VP22 January 2013 at 16:49

    Arabella - oh the irony! I ahven't experienced that yet, but imagine it must have looked a bit weird. Wheat seems to be the worst culprit in my garden, so I guess the less of that in the mix, the better. Sunflower and sweetcorn seeds will germinate too - but at least they can be transplanted to somewhere where they're wanted (for me anyway). I suspect that sorghum and millet won't because they like warmer climes...

    ... I have been wondering if heating the mix first might be the answer.

    I have also been looking at other seed mixes whilst out shopping today and they're very variable in their composition. Flaked oats of course won't germinate. I've also seen a similar mix to the one I've trialled with a calorie content >500 for around the same price (and many much cheaper). Much better for the birdies?

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more