Thrushes have been declining for quite a while, so not surprising if you haven't seen them. You might get a mistle thrush after Christmas for the last of the holly berries.

Blackbirds at this time of year are busy scoffing fruit so you may not see them on feeders. But our native blackbirds are supplemented by winter migrants, so numbers should increase soon. You need seed on the ground or on a table for them and other ground-feeders like dunnocks.

If you've got pigeons, they like seed with cereal in, so if you went to a non-cereal mix, you should have fewer pigeons. No guarantee that that will lead to an influx of other birds, but it's a possibility. You can make a cage of wire mesh to put over the table and keep larger birds out. Ours keeps out the wood pigeons, although magpies, jackdaws and collared doves all get in, but they don't seem to upset the other birds and don't have the appetite of the wood pigeons.

At this time of year, fat is highly regarded, especially by the tits, including the long-tailed tits which are back into big feeding flocks.