Not just the birds that like it

In the evenings, I lock our pet rabbits up in their hutch for the night to prevent them from being eaten by foxes. It was an average evening at about 10:00pm and I spotted some blobs on the fat block feeder. I shone my torch on them to get a better view only to see that they were actually snails!

Above: plenty of snails, earwigs and woodlice (Not for the squeamish type)

And there weren't just snails either. Earwigs and woodlice too. Its lucky they were snails, because it gave me a chance to get my camera before they disappeared. Its a wonder I had never noticed them before. I'm not sure if this has been known to happen before, but I must admit that I never knew that some of our bird food was being eaten by snails. They obviously have similar tastes to our garden birds. There were quite a few of them too. They must only eat very tiny portions of it though because in the morning, I could honestly not notice that any of the fat had gone. I thought that snails were only interested in green plants in the garden. Clearly not!

I have seen some of our daytime pests, eg squirrels. I am guessing that these snails, earwigs and woodlice are trying to avoid being eaten by their predators. The squirrels certainly make themselves obvious by rustling loudly in the trees and scaring the birds off. The creatures seem to be a bit more discreet. If you look carefully, you will spot some woodlice on the fence in the picture below.

Please comment if you have had any similar experiences. I definately found this strange.

Plenty to choose from

The bird feeders in our garden attract a decent variety of garden birds. In order to attract different species, however, we put out lots of different types of food. Below, is a list of the foods we put out for the birds.

Peanuts: A food source which is used mostly by tits, and finches and will, very occasionally invite woodpeckers. I have seen a Greater Spotted Woodpecker twice, and they are a treat to see. Unfortunately, as we discovered, they also attract squirrels. While they are great fun to watch, they destroyed our original peanut feeder in its effort to remove the food. Apparently though, other food sources are now much preferred to peanuts. No idea why!

Feeder Seed mixes: We used to feed the birds with black sunflower seeds, and sunflower hearts. These were popular with finches in particular. The seed mixes are generally more popular with the smaller birds, such as tits and Dunnocks. The seeds were small enough that the Blue Tit parents fed a few of them to the chicks in our nest box this year. I think this food also helped see the return of House Sparrows in our garden. The spillage, from the feeders keeps the ground feeding birds happy too.

Table mixes: We sometimes provide Robin foods bought from the local pet store. It includes mealworms, seeds and cereal type things. It is quite expensive, but I find that the birds love it. As you may have guessed, it attracts Robins. However, House Sparrows, Blackbirds, Collared Doves, Magpies, Wood Pigeons Dunnocks and tits are also attracted by these foods. I also put some Raspberries and Blackcurrants on the table, alongside a few scraps, which keeps the bird table busy.

Fat: Keeps our Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Robins, Blackbirds, Magpies and the odd flock of Long-tailed Tits busy. Earlier in the year, Starlings were an entertaining sight at the fat cakes and balls, but I have seen an absence in them recently.

Nyjer Seed: In our garden, it almost exclusively attracts Goldfinches, but Greenfinches are occasionally seen feeding on them.

Images all from CJ wildlife website apart from raspberries (google images)