Recently I have set up a feeding station near to the entrance to the woods. Feeding station is a rather grand name.
There are a pile of large Corsican Pine trunks which were not removed by the contractors when the wood was felled. The reason was that the lorry was full and it was the last load of the day and it was the last day of their time in my wood. So the lorry driver kindly said that he could not get any more on the lorry so he would leave these 9 logs for me… I said thank you so much but they are mine already.
Anyway there is a pile of logs and I have taken to putting food on them whenever I visit the woods. They have feeding stations in the Forest of Dean woods, some are conventional bird tables , some even have tubular bird feeders hanging down, but others are just a big old log and members of the public put food on them. The birds soon learn and they seem to get used to visitors watching them and taking loads of photos.
We have a Spanish jamon at home and when you slice of layers of ham you also get some fat around the outside, this I remove and this has been the main source of food for my ‘feeding station. After Christmas I took up the left over Turkey carcass and a few other bits and bobs get taken up there. I also sometimes squash a fat ball into the crevices in the bark
It is always gone by the next time I visit which is usually after a day or two but sometimes it is as soon as the following day. So I am feeding something…. local dogs? foxes? magpies, buzzards, crows, who knows.
Today I took some food up there and actually saw some of it being removed….. not that exciting and fairly predictable it was a Robin. Also four Magpies came and sat in nearby trees but were not brave enough to swoop in, my truck was parked not that far from the ‘feeding station’. Also some Carrion Crows did a fly past but they also did not actually visit.
It will take time but slowly they will get used to it and a truck parked nearby.
I wrote the above about 10 days ago. Today I have set myself the task of getting better acquainted with photoshop and trying to prepare my ‘panels completion entry, however as that seems quite a daunting task I have reverted to finishing off this blog.
The robins now seem to know that when a silver Ford truck turns up the bloke inside will put out some food, as they always appear just after I arrive. I did see a magpie swoop in and grab a bit of left over turkey but the photos I took were too out of focus even for photoshop so I wont show you them. A blackbird came along yesterday and he was a bit more accommodating so this is him.
So far I have not seen any tits, woodpeckers or nuthatches, but I am hopeful as they do occur in the woods quite regularly. I am a bit in two minds about things like bird tables, feeders, bird boxes and bat boxes. I would like to encourage wildlife but it is a wood and not a garden. So some food spread on top of a pile of logs is about as far as I will go for now.
Ninewells Wood 
I like the idea of training the birds to pose for you. Gives me food for thought. Amelia
Is it a grey damp day in France like it is here, which is why you are on the internet at 10.00am?
We are having a bitterly cold spell. I got fingerless gloves for Christmas and they have come in very handy. I had forgotten what sub zero feels like.
I have just remembered, that when we were spending extended periods in France I used to set up little mini feeders where I stuffed some fat into one of the old 35mm film cases and then I attached this to a tree. But I positioned it so that it was hidden from where I was to be located with my camera. In this way I got some good photos of Woodpeckers and Nuthatches on the tree but without the feeder in view.
I’ve just read a blog when someone has done similar but in addition added a screen to make a background so you do not have a twig growing out of the bird’s head in an otherwise perfect shot.
Hi there, I stumbled across your blog whilst looking for information about wildlife in the area. I’ve just moved in around the corner from your wood and have just set up my own bird table. The most exciting visitors so far being a pair of bullfinches. I’d be really interested if you were able to entice owls to your woods in some way. I hear them lots , but am yet to see one. Anyway, lovely to read your blog and I hope you have many more feathered visitors soon.
I think there is an owl box in the bit of wood next to mine…. the triangular bit next to the road and on the opposite side of the track up to the two bungalows.