On 19/01/2013 09:50, kay wrote:

'Pam Moore[_2_ Wrote:
;976930']

I also bought some niger seed, filled the feeder and waited..........
After a week the feeder was still full.
I emptied the seed out into a bag to give to a friend who does have
finches and refilled the tube with seed mix.
I looked up niger seed to see what it would grow into and it is a
boring coltsfoot/dandelion-looking type of flower. I wasted my money!


You were far too impatient! Three weeks is a more sensible time to allow
for a goldfinch who doesn't normally visit your garden to stray off
route, pluck up courage to investigate something that doesn't look like
his normal source of food, and then incorporate it into his regular
route.

It took my finches a couple of weeks, and they were visiting regularly
for the lavender. Now they are part of the garden furniture - it's
difficult to be in the garden without seeing them.[/i][/color]

Spot on. They are somewhat shy little birds who are wary of anything
new at first. But once one (and it only takes one...) has found the
feeder it will come back and will attract others. We had 6 fighting to
get on our 2-station feeder in the front garden a couple of days ago.
They were generally ignoring the feeder in the back garden, but
occasionally that gets a couple of goldfinches.

Occasionally the odd sparrow or blue tit will visit the niger feeders,
but they soon lose interest.

--

Jeff