It's funny, for years our birds hardly touched peanuts, yet I knew a woman just around the corner whose peanuts disappeared quickly and routinely attracted Gt Sp woodpeckers. But the last couple of years the birds have decided they like our peanuts. Maybe they approve of the new feeder we bought.

Our local goldfinches were never attracted by niger seeds, but turned up in numbers once we put out sunflower cores. When I mixed niger in with other seeds, most birds would pick them out and throw them on the ground uneaten, as they also do to any barley in the mix - on the ground woodpigeons eat it. We haven't put out sf cores this year, and haven't seen many goldfinches.

Recently we have had many jackdaws and a pheasant on the seed feeders and peanuts. Not seen those before. Though the red-legged partridges that used to turn up haven't been seen for a few years. One year I attracted a lot of siskins and bramblings, but they haven't been back.