I am hoping to entice something very special into our garden (and no, it's not a designer though I'm tempted). Goldfinches are what I'm after although I think I may be a little ambitious. I'm greedy too, I don't just want one I want lots - a charm of goldfinches.
Now, at the risk of ruining my image as young and with it, I picked up this idea from listening to Sarah Kennedy's early morning Radio Two show.
Her listeners have been emailing in with tales of golden birds at their feeders all thanks to the niger seed they have been leaving out. A bit sprinkled onto the ground, some in a feeder, a bit of patience and lo! There they are.
The only thing I'm short of is the patience. I bought the thistle and niger seed (very small and black) and a special feeder to put it in this morning and have hung it on a tree in the garden in full view, of course, of the kitchen table.
I even sprinkled some on the ground although how they will ever see the black seed on the mud I'll never know. How they even know the seed is there in the first place is a mystery. Do birds stalk gardens? Watching for kindly householders to hang up a fat ball or two? Or do they have special feathered patrols ready to sound the alert a bit like the dogs on 101 Dalmatians?
I shall never know. But within half an hour of hanging up the feeder I saw a sparrow and a blue tit investigating. I don't mind blue tits, at least they're colourful, but the thought of hoards of sparrows feeding deflates me a bit. I don't to sound snobby about garden birds but, really, I bought the niger seed for goldfinches.
Still, sounding like Tesco now, every little bit helps I suppose. And garden birds, even of the common and not terribly pretty variety, are better than no birds at all.
