My Dad recently bought me a bird feeder and a sack of good quality bird food for my garden. He’s a huge friend to the bird world in Ireland, being very closely involved in the Brent Goose project and Whooper Swan project in Ireland. He’s always brought me up to love the outside life, and fostered a keen interest in birdwatching which I hope I can pass on to my own children. I’m very grateful to him for this!
Anyhow, when we lived in Belfast we had very few visitors to our bird feeder, living in a built up part of East Belfast with very few gardens. We were bloody lucky to have a little garden ourselves, even if it was the size of a postage stamp! We got a very few garden birds, but I lost heart when our previously-unblooded cat, the large, brightly coloured and completely brain dead Max, managed to kill one of the pair of blue tits which frequented the little feeder. If that wasn’t bad enough, its mate tragically was so distressed by it’s partner’s death that it just sat there all day looking completely lost, until our revolting cat killed it as well. I was very, very upset- cat’s nature or not- I was very sad.
BUT- new garden, new start! 
I have carefully positioned the feeder so that it hangs off a hook on the clothes line, where our nasty little bugger hopefully can’t reach. There’s a lovely view from our kitchen window and I am so, so enjoying watching the birds come and feed. So far, I’ve had goldfinches, greenfinches, great tits, blue tits, a variety of sparrows, and a robin who will not take no for an answer and who hangs on for dear life, wings fluttering frantically as he feeds!
Thanks Dad- a simple but wonderful gift which will give me, and hopefully my children, great pleasure!
