Garden Bird Selection Pack
From Farbrook Farm
Sometimes it is nice to be able to send a wildlife gift to a young person or someone who is getting interested in attracting birds to the garden. When I received this 'Garden Bird Selection Pack' through the post from Farbrook Farm, I thought it was a great idea to create a 'starter' type pack; a pack that would get someone started and be quick to attract a good range of species to the garden.
Some 'starter' packs I have seen before have a rather cheap, wheat based food in, which will do little to attract anything other than pigeons to the garden... not a good introduction to the wonderful world of bird feeding! This kit, however, has a really good selection of quality foods that will appeal to the palettes of a wide variety of species. The kit includes:
1kg of niger seed (perfect for goldfinches)
1kg of peanuts
1 kg of sunflower hearts (the gourmet 'attract all' food!)
5 fat balls
100g dried mealworms (the robin's favourite!)
and then 2 bags of a mixed seed:
1kg premium seed
1kg soft bill mix
The Premuim Seed Mix contains kibbled maize, white & red millet, red dari, sunflower hearts, black sunflower seeds, niger seeds, peanut grains. This is a good all-round mix that will appeal to the tits, and finches certainly!
The Premuim Soft Bill Mix contains peanut granules, flaked & pinhead oats, sunflower hearts, apple suet, diced apple and sultanas. This is perfect for the bird table or ground feeding and the blackbirds will love it!
The Seed Mixes:
The kit also contains 2 feeders; a basic, plastic seed feeder and a metal spiral fat ball feeder.
I am a seasoned feeder of birds and I would not use a plastic feeder like this as it would not last 5 minutes in my garden as the squirrels would destroy it! If squirrels were not a problem, then this feeder would do the job until you decided to buy something a little more substantial.
I have never used the spiral type fat ball feeders as I have always been a little concerned about the possiblities of birds getting stuck in them. I have not seen any proof of this happening though, but I would prefer to see a standard fat ball feeder in with this pack I think.
In my opinion, I would rather see one better quality feeder in this kit, than two of a lesser quality. The food in the pack is of a really good quality and I think a higher end feeder would make this a cracking starter kit!
The website sells a range of other feeders and I would like to see one (or 2!) of these inside this kit instead of the current ones....
Goldfinch Finder
Classic 2 port seed feeder
Fat Ball Holder
Overall, I think this has the makings of a really good Starter Kit. I like the food selection choices and it would give you a good indication of the kinds of birds that might visit your garden as it will appeal to a wide variety of species. The feeder choices are basic, but adequate.
A slight change in the feeders included and I would consider this kit as a gift for a birthday or Christmas, certainly!