I live outside a village and my house is surrounded by fields. I like feeding wild birds and in the past I have always put leftover bread etc out into my back garden for the birds. This used to work well, the bread attracted lots of birds and they always ate all the bread.


Last month my youngest cat Ruby brought a friend home with her! It was a little blue tit and after being brought into the house in Ruby's mouth it was very near to death. I managed to get Ruby to drop the bird and I managed to free him. The next day Ruby was again in the garden hiding in the bushes, waiting for the bread to be throw out for the birds.


After the carry on the previous day I decided that I would need to change the way I feed the birds. I went to my local Garden Centre and bought a Gardman Wild Bird Seed Feeder. This bird seed feeder comes in 3 different sizes.


The small 20cm size costs £6.99, the medium 27cm size costs £9.99 and the large 40cm size costs £14.99. Like most people I have to watch what I spend. I decided to buy the small feeder at £6.99, a large pack of bird seed to fill it and a pack of 6 fat balls to hang beside the feeder. The total for the 3 items was nearly £10 and I really felt this was enough to spend as the previous bread feeding had cost me nothing at all.

This bird seed feeder is also available to buy from Amazon.


The bird feeder is made from galvanised steel. Galvanised steel is steel that has been coated with zinc in order to prevent rusting / corrosion. This will help to ensure that this bird feeder lasts more then a few winters.


To fill the bird feeder with seed you just twist of the lid of the feeder and fill the feeder with seed. It is easy to remove the lid, no strength is required. After you have filled the feeder you just twist the lid back on to the feeder.


The seed is held in a clear polycarbonate feed chamber. This holds the seed well and as it is clear the birds can see the seed and they soon work out how to get to it.


The feeder has a large hoop at the top of the feeder. This hoop can be attached to tree branches, fences and bird houses. It has proved to be a secure way of hanging the feeder. The feeder when filled with seed is not too heavy for the hoop, it still works fine at hanging the seed feeder.


The bird feeder should be emptied and washed out on a regular basis, within time you will see bird droppings on it and if you don't clean it then you risk birds spreading disease. It is easy to empty and wash. A quick wash with soapy water, then a rinse and then just dry it with kitchen paper. I have found this works fine to keep the bird feeder clean.


The RSPB now recommend that wild birds are fed all year round. However, it is particularly important during autumn, winter and spring when naturally occuring foods are in very short supply.

Ensure feed is available first thing in the morning, this will help them replace energy lost through the night, and again at mid-afternoon to help them to build up some reserves as night falls.

Once you have started feeding the birds do not stop as they will come to rely on the food you put out.


All in all this is a good bird feeder, it has proved to be a good buy at a reasonable price. It is also available in a variety of sizes. I like the fact that it is made from galvanised steel as this means it won't rust and fall apart. As I said before it is easy to fill and easy to empty and clean.


It works well at attracting lots of small birds in to my garden and the birds sit for ages feeding on the seed. I have placed the feeder at the front of my garden, my cats don't have access to this part of the garden.


Ruby and her 2 sisters love to sit on the inside windowsills watching the birds eating from the feeder. They get excited and chatter. For the non cat owners chattering is a quite distinctive teeth chattering sort of noise that seems reserved specifically for when cats see birds, whether outside or on television. Actually, that noise may be more of an instinct than we realize. Many feline behavior specialists have noted the similarity of that noise to the special neck bite that cats use in the wild designed to kill a bird or small rodent quickly and efficiently, before they have a chance to struggle. Young kittens and cubs in the wild have the opportunity to practice this special bite; house cats may just be showing their excitement at seeing potential prey, or possibly their frustration (with the excitement, too) in seeing potential prey that they cannot get to. Many times, you may notice that your cat's tail is getting puffy, or is twitching in a special way that accompanies his special chattering noises.


My cats chatter away at the birds for a while and then they usually fall asleep, it's really is a cats life!