"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2/6/04 16:21, in article
,
"Tumbleweed" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
snip They feed on the peanuts in winter and
adults
will take them now, too but we often see them with their beaks
stuffed
with
'wrigglers' to take to their babies.

if you can see them wriggling, then either your birds are
remarkably tame
and let you get within 6 inches, or the wrigglers are not
greenfly!

They are *extremely* tame not to say downright over-familiar! They
whizz
past our noses, literally inches away - a chaffinch nearly hit me on
the
head yesterday as we both went through the same doorway!

But chaffinches are not particularly good at demolishing greenfly.

Two years ago, my
stepson left his fleece hanging from a wire in the greenhouse and
forgot it
overnight. Next morning, a wren was building a nest in the collar,
so he
couldn't use that for a while. And another wren built a nest in
some bits
and pieces of equipment stored a couple of feet above a potting
bench where
there is always someone at work.
These last two years a wren has built her nest *under* a potting
bench in
one of the houses and happily flits in and out, whoever is there.
The small double has a lot of stuff actually planted in it, and one
side is
a great long bank of Fuchsias. People are walking up and down past
them all
day choosing bedding plants etc. and those Fuchsias get many nests
in them.
Cake and bread crumbs from the tea room go into a cardboard box in
the big
double and birds flock to that. It's only inches away from the till
and
there are people moving around constantly, walking past it, watching
the
birds and so forth.
They hop onto tables while customers are eating - some flap them
away - most
watch in fascination. They hop onto the table in the greenhouse
when the
staff are having their morning coffee and cake and if you put your
cake down
for a second, they're onto it like lightning! The water trough in
the
garden has a small fountain in it and customers sitting at the
tables nearby
often find themselves taking part in some bird's bath time, like it
or not!

Apart from their own kind, there are no predators here, no cats and
those
that visited were seen off by our Jack Russells. In fact, one of
the
comments we get so often from customers is what pure joy it is both
to hear
the birdsong and see them come so close to people. It does give a
huge
feeling of privilege.

I agree entirely, except that the birds you mention do not actually
eat greenfly and blackfly to any noticeable extent.

Franz