A Birdwatching Moment in Fordingbridge

If you’re into birdwatching, you’ll know the thrill of spotting something unusual. But every now and then, something truly extraordinary happens, this is exactly what unfolded recently near Fordingbridge in Hampshire. Local birdwatchers have identified what is believed to be the oldest recorded Eurasian curlew in the UK. And honestly, it’s the kind of story that reminds you why people fall in love with nature.

Meet “Mrs Ogdens”

The star of the show is a female curlew affectionately known as “Mrs Ogdens.” She might look like any other curlew at first glance with long legs and a distinctive curved bill, but her story is anything but ordinary. Thanks to the coloured rings on her legs (used by researchers to track birds), experts were able to confirm her age: an incredible 33 years and nearly nine months. That’s practically unheard of for a bird like this. She was first ringed way back in 1992 on Brownsea Island, and has been quietly living her life ever since - migrating, feeding, and even raising chicks.

Spotted Near the Avon Valley

More recently, Mrs Ogdens has been seen in the Avon Valley, right near Fordingbridge, where she feeds during the colder months before heading back to the New Forest for the breeding season.  For local birdwatchers, spotting her isn’t just exciting—it’s deeply meaningful. You’re not just looking at a bird; you’re witnessing over three decades of survival, migration, and resilience.

Why This Matters

As uplifting as this story is, it also comes with a sobering reality. Curlews in the UK are in trouble. Their numbers have dropped significantly in recent decades, mainly because fewer chicks are surviving to adulthood. So while Mrs Ogdens is surviving, the next generation just are not being replaced quickly enough.

A Small Glimmer of Hope

There is some good news, though. Even at the ripe old age of 29, Mrs Ogdens successfully raised a chick!  This is a rare and encouraging sign that conservation efforts can work when the conditions are right. Projects focusing on habitat protection and predator management are slowly making a difference, especially in places like the New Forest. So next time you’re out walking near Fordingbridge, keep your eyes open. You never know, you might just catch a glimpse of a living legend.

If you have any further questions about Eurasian Curlews or bird feeding advice, please get in touch with us today and a member of our friendly team will be happy to help!

A mosquito-borne disease known as the Usutu virus has now been widely detected across the South of England. The virus, first discovered more than fifty years ago around Africa’s Usutu River, has been present in mainland Europe since the 1990’s and finally made its way to the UK after a hot and humid summer in 2020. So, what does this mean for our beloved garden birds? Keep reading this blog to find out!

New products have landed – just in time for spring!

Scroll down to see some of our new peanut and suet feeders, or visit our New Additions page to see more of our latest arrivals.

Nagano Peanut & Suet Feeder

Ideal for offering whole peanuts!

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Suet Cake Basket

A sturdy cage with a pitched roof to keep your suet cakes nice and dry.

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Kyoto Peanut Feeder

A smart and stylish feeder with a breathable design that keeps peanuts fresh for longer.

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Ring-Pull™ Click Peanut PLUS Bird Feeder

Protect your peanuts / suet pellets from squirrels and other unwanted visitors!

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Vierno Peanut Cake Feeder

A simple yet stylish solution for hanging peanut cakes in your garden. The elegant design keeps the cakes visible while shielding them from sun and rain.

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Premium Suet Feeder

Comes with a lifetime guarantee against squirrel damage!

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Rome Suet Cake Feeder

This durable suet cake feeder is made from sustainable plant-based materials. A great choice for eco-conscious bird lovers!

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Rome Fat Ball Feeder

Crafted from durable plant-based materials, this fat ball feeder makes a great addition to all sorts of outdoor spaces.

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Don't forget to stock up on protein-packed peanuts and tasty suet for your garden birds!

Original Farm Gold™

is our SEED OF THE MONTH for March. Order now and get 15% off the usual price!

"The birds love this excellent food. A super pure seed mix, with no fillers or extras!" – C. Binnie, June 2022

Original Farm Gold™ is the perfect spring bird feed, and a fantastic choice for your garden birds at this time of year.

Homegrown is always best, and this delicious bird seed mix contains all the ingredients from our golden harvest days, with an added touch of sunshine! It is one of our most popular bird seed mixes and a really good choice during springtime. Packed with essential fats, vitamins and protein, it will keep breeding and nesting garden birds in tip-top condition and give them lots of energy for the busy days ahead.

And to encourage you to make the most of this fantastic bird seed mix, we are offering 15% off Original Farm Gold™ during March (offer ends 31st March). This means that prices now start from just £7.18 with fast and FREE delivery!

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Spotlight on Song Thrushes

Now that spring is (almost!) here, we are seeing a lot more bird activity in our garden and out on the farm. The skylarks are sounding mellifluous, and we have noticed an increase in the number of blackbirds and song thrushes all out strutting their stuff and getting ready for the breeding period ahead.

While still quite common, song thrush numbers have declined in recent years and they are now on the Amber list of Birds of Conservation Concern. You know they are around when you find smashed snail shells lying on patios and paths and beside larger stones. Our song thrushes love rooting around for worms and snails at the base of our hedges, and I think they have truly enjoyed the recent wet weather which has done wonders for snail and slug populations!

The best way to support song thrushes is to leave some scrubby and messy (damp) areas in your garden. A bit of untidiness will offer extra food and cover, which will be much appreciated.

Enjoy your garden birds!

With very best wishes,
Lesley

National Nestbox Week is coming up next week (February 14^th to February 21^st) and bird nesting season is right around the corner, so it is more important than ever to help your local birds out with safe and cosy nesting opportunities.

If you’re not sure where to start, this blog will take you through where to put nesting boxes for different species of garden birds, so that no bird is left without shelter this nesting season.

It's the perfect time to put up a new nest box or refurbish an existing one.

Pictured above: Minnesota Nest Box 32mm with Wooden Roof

Winter begins to wane, daylight starts to stretch and birds start to sing. Although it seems early, you will notice more activity in your gardens as many of your feathered friends turn their attention to claiming their territory, checking out new potential nesting sites and building energy reserves for the breeding season ahead. As bird numbers suffer a general decline (due in part to a scarcity of natural nesting sites), a successful mating season is critical to lay the foundations for success of the next generation. Species such as tits, sparrows, wrens and robins often begin preparing for breeding well before spring arrives, and they are gearing up! Having clean, repaired nest boxes in sheltered positions in your garden will help the house-hunting process and will ease their transition to the breeding season.

We are celebrating National Nest Box Week (14th – 21st February) with some fantastic nest box offers. You can save up to 20% on selected nest boxes plus we will put in a FREE 30g bag of nesting wool with each nest box purchased!*

See What's on Offer >>

*Nest box offers available until 21st February or while stocks last. We will automatically add a free bag of nesting wool with each nest box ordered.

A Cosy Home For Jenny Wren

SAVE 20%

This Schwegler spherical wren house provides excellent protection from predators. Hang the nest box in low-level undergrowth in a shady place.

Save 20% Here >>

A Stylish New Home for Woody Woodpecker

SAVE 20%

This woodpecker nest box is handmade in solid, sustainably-sourced cedar with a 55mm entrance hole. Install it high up on a mature tree in a quiet location and wait for the new family!

Save 20% Here >>

SEE ALSO: Where to Put a Nest Box

Premium Seed of the Month

High Energy Blend™

Order our High Energy Blend™ before the end of February to save 10% on the normal price!

Here's what our customers have said about this seed mix:

"This is an excellent blend and has been attracting many garden birds this spring including sparrows, tits, robins, bullfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches and woodpecker. No mess because anything discarded by birds at the feeders gets picked up by others on the ground." – Kay

"It's a beautiful quality feed and the birds are absolutely loving it. Highly recommended." – Phillipa

"I am thrilled that your bird seed has brought so many wild birds to my garden. Absolutely recommend and also your bird feeder with rain protection." – Eve

Small birds have big energy needs, and there's no feed more packed with energy than our High Energy Blend™. With a free-flowing formulation and a 10% saving in February, it's the perfect choice for this cold, wet time of year.

Buy Now from Just £8.95 >>

Snack Smart!

Consider adding some high-energy suet to your bird feeding station at this time of year. It's delicious and high in calories – your birds will thank you!

SAVE 10% ON SELECTED SUET PRODUCTS! Just enter the code SNACKSMART10 at the checkout to claim your discount. Offer available until 21st February or while stocks last.

Honest 2 Nature Suet Cakes

High quality suet cakes with plastic-free and fully recyclable packaging. A great ECO choice!

Find Them Here >>

Peckaballs with Insect

Highly nutritious 'smaller' fat balls. High in calories with great texture and taste, and very versatile!

Find Them Here >>

Peckish Extra Goodness Nuggets

Perfect for small beaks and available in 2 different pack sizes.

Find Them Here >>

Well! I don't know about you, but I am a bit fed up with this incessant rain and I am really looking forward to spring and all the wonderful things that it brings.

Enjoy your birds!

With very best wishes,
Lesley

P.S. Don't forget checkout code SNACKSMART10 to make smart savings.

If you’ve been searching for a high-quality bird feed that you can put out for your feathered friends, you may have come across Peckish Bird Food, a very popular UK brand. But how do their products compare to ours?

In this blog post, we’ll outline some key differences between the home-grown seed mixes we sell here Really Wild Bird Food and the products available from Peckish to help you pick the best value, most sustainable and highest quality bird food for your garden birds!

Quick Comparison

• Here at Really Wild Bird Food, we grow most of the ingredients for our bird seed mixes ourselves – and we do our best to source the rest from nearby locations. We’re transparent about where we get our ingredients from, whereas Peckish are less direct about their sources.
  
  
• Really Wild Bird Food seed mixes generally contain less low-nutrition filler (e.g. wheat) than Peckish Bird Food mixes.
  
  
• Peckish Bird Food tends to be cheaper, although this depends on who you buy it from – you can’t order directly from Peckish, so you have to find a stockist who’s offering a good price. Really Wild Bird Food products can be ordered directly from reallywildbirdfood.co.uk, and we offer free delivery on all bird food orders (plus great savings when you buy in bulk).

Ingredient Sourcing

While Peckish advertise most of their seed mixes and straight seeds as ‘sustainably sourced’, they are not particularly transparent about where they actually get their ingredients from. For their Natural Balance range, they highlight that the ingredients are 100% UK and Irish sourced – the fact they have only highlighted this here suggests that their other products contain at least some ingredients from elsewhere.

At Really Wild Bird Food, we grow the vast majority of our ingredients right here on our farm in Hampshire. Some of our seed mixes (notably EnviroMix) even have 100% of their ingredients grown by us, meaning that by the time the seed is ready to be sent to your door, it has travelled a grand total of zero miles!

For the bird seed ingredients that we can’t grow ourselves, we do sometimes source from overseas. However, we keep our carbon footprint low by sourcing our ingredients from European locations like Bulgaria and the South of France. We also try hard to be transparent about where our products come from so that each customer can make an informed purchasing decision.

Bird Food Quality

Peckish Bird Food’s standard mixes tend to contain bulking agents like wheat, which may fill up larger birds like pigeons but will probably just be ignored by smaller garden birds. This can lead to unsanitary feeding areas with excess food waste, spoiled seed and pests! At Really Wild Bird Food, we use fewer fillers in our seed mixes which can help to attract a broader range of small birds and reduce mess.

In addition to this, while Peckish feeds aim for balanced nutrition, they don’t necessarily match the calorie density of other premium options offered by Really Wild Bird Food. So, if you’re looking for bird food options that will keep your feathered friends warm, healthy and full of energy, premium seed mixes from Really Wild Bird Food are probably your best bet!

Furthermore, if you’re wondering whether Really Wild Bird Food or Peckish give you the best value for money, we will have to side with ourselves due to the ability to buy in bulk, our high-quality ingredients, minimal filler and free delivery offer with ANY orders that include bird seed.

Choose Really Wild Bird Food!

If you have any questions about our bird food ingredients, quality or anything else you may have seen in this blog, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and a member of our team will be happy to help!

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Have you seen the new Peckish TV advert yet? It’s all about using bird food to colour in your garden with vibrant winged wildlife!

Birds need a little extra help in winter to stay energised, so now is the perfect time to start feeding the birds. This is an easy and fun activity that can bring more colour to your garden and your neighbourhood in general.

The new Peckish campaign encourages viewers to colour in their gardens by feeding the birds. However, it can be tricky to know where to start. We’re a distributor with years of experience helping feed wildlife, so we’re happy to help – here’s everything you need to colour in your garden this year!

How to colour in your garden

1) Choose a bird feeder

We sell a variety of Peckish bird feeders that can add a bit of colour to your garden. You’ll even get free delivery on your bird feeder if you also buy one of our nutritious home-grown seed mixes.

Here’s a tip: some birds are picky about how they feed. Birds like robins and chaffinches are ground feeders, which means they prefer to peck from a flat surface. The Peckish Everyday Bird Table features a roof (which provides shelter for birds while they eat) and is very easy to assemble. Some ground-feeding birds may prefer a table that is closer to the ground, but many will happily eat from an elevated table. Plus, the classic wooden table will make a lovely addition to your garden!

If you don’t have space for a freestanding bird table, you can still attract plenty of colourful birds with a hanging feeder, like the Peckish All Weather Large Seed Feeder. It is ideal for rainy UK winters and easy to fill with delicious bird seed.

Peckish also offer a couple of more specialised feeders, like their sunflower heart and suet ball feeders. If you want to attract lots of different birds, your best option is to use a few different types of bird feeder.

With so many wonderful options, your garden will be more colourful before you know it!

2) Choose some bird food

You can’t colour in your garden without bird food. Providing nutritious and healthy seeds is the quickest way to draw in a crowd of new feathered friends. At Really Wild Bird Food, we offer a huge range of seed mixes, from our eco-friendly EnviroMix to our Ground Blend, which is specifically formulated for ground-feeding birds!

If you’re a little overwhelmed by all the choice, you can’t go wrong with our best-selling Tidy Garden Mix. Unlike some mixes, which may leave a mess of shells or cause weeds to grow around your feeding area, this mix only includes ingredients that won’t sprout. It’s foolproof and beloved by a wide variety of garden birds.

Another tip: birds don’t just eat seeds! In nature, many birds eat insects. You can put out live mealworms for your birds, but we know this can be a bit daunting if you are just starting out so we also offer dried mealworms that don’t wriggle around.

Suet – available in the form of fat balls or suet pellets – is another popular treat for birds. It’s full of fat, which healthy birds need to stay warm (especially at this time of year). Our Seed and Suet Combo mix offers birds a balanced, high-energy diet.

3) Take care of your local birds

Setting up a feeder and filling it with bird food is a really good start, but there are a few more small steps you can take to care for your new avian visitors. You should provide water for drinking and bathing, clean your bird feeders regularly, and offer plenty of places for birds to rest or hide. Nesting boxes give birds shelter from predators and bad weather, and many of them have fun designs that can improve the look of your garden.

Feeding the birds is a lovely way to make your garden more colourful, but by taking these extra steps, you can be sure that you are doing your best to properly care for the wildlife around you. Preserving your local bird species by providing food, water and shelter can be incredibly rewarding.

Ready to colour in your garden?

You can colour in your garden by following the instructions above! We hope you enjoy seeing new, beautiful birds flock to your filled-up feeders. And remember: we offer FREE DELIVERY if your order includes one of our seed mixes!

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Read these guides for even more useful information on feeding the birds:

• Tips For Feeding Garden Birds
• How (and How Often) to Clean and Disinfect Bird Feeders
• Top 10 Bird Feeding Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)