Bird friendly trees??

joseph brand

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good type of tree to plant out the back garden of an average size semi-detached house, that birds could feed from?

I am currently feeding bread and apples to the sparrows/finches and blackbirds.

I am asking now as I heard it is good time for planting.

Thanks

Kev

charlesanto

rowan trees, lots of red berrys for the birdies.
I think they are a nice looking tree, and they don't grow too big.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054886344&

FranknFurter

Also any of the fruit trees,.....
Basically anything with food-berries or that will attract insects, they will be all over it.

CJhaughey

TBH a normal sally tree/s makes a good perch, cheap(free) and fast growing.

Hippo

Anything with a couple of feeders in it!

Alun

CJhaughey wrote:

TBH a normal sally tree/s makes a good perch, cheap(free) and fast growing.

What on earth is a "sally tree"?

CJhaughey

Sally is the colloquial term for a type of willow.

Alun

CJhaughey wrote:

Sally is the colloquial term for a type of willow.

Well, you learn something new everyday! Don't suppose it's got something to do with the latin name for the genus of the willow family, Salix?

CJhaughey

Yep I would guess that it has a lot to do with it
http://www.crann.ie/treespec.htm

joseph brand

thanks for replies,

Those Rowan trees have a lot history.

I hope I can still plant a tree now????

Desmo

joseph brand wrote:

thanks for replies,

Those Rowan trees have a lot history.

I hope I can still plant a tree now????

plant now (or when this cold spell dies over).
Right now you can plant as bare root trees and these are cheap.
You can get Rowan trees (Sorbus aucuparius) from
http://futureforests.net/
for just a few euro each.
Get a small one and stick it in the ground.

You can also get them from garden centres in pots. Wait a few weeks and plant one of them in a bigger hole with a stake. These are bigger than teh usual bare root ones but are more expensive.

joseph brand

Thanks for replies.

I have 2 young apple trees(3 ft), 1 Himalayan Birch (8ft) and a Cherry Blossom (7ft) (for GF), in my garden.

I am now looking to get my hands on a bird house, or 2.



PS: Did anyone evr hear of a Bumble Bee lodge??
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Bumble-Bee-Lodge-HELP-OUR-NATIVE-WILDLIFE_W0QQitemZ290026425230QQihZ019QQcategoryZ75579QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

This is on my list also. :eek:

arghh

I know its not a tree but the berberis with the berries are great for feeding birds and also giving them protection from predators

bmaxi

Just as an aside. It is not a good idea to feed dry bread to birds, particularly at nesting time. The bread will reconstitute in the gullet of the chicks and can choke them. So if you do feed bread, soak it in a dish of water first.

delly

joseph, just wondering where you picked up the Cherry Blossom. I'm trying to source a good one at the moment, but any I have seen have been below par.

looksee

Love Rowans, cant go wrong with them. Birds also like cotoneaster, though its more of a shrub/wall cover than a tree. I wouldn't plant sallies unless I had a couple of acres that I wanted to drain water from, certainly not near a building.

Sonnenblumen

looksee wrote:

Love Rowans, cant go wrong with them. Birds also like cotoneaster, though its more of a shrub/wall cover than a tree. I wouldn't plant sallies unless I had a couple of acres that I wanted to drain water from, certainly not near a building.

Yes but there is a Cotoneaster Pendulus, an excellent small (2.0m - 3.0 m) size evergreen weeping tree.

Other suitable trees include Mountain Ash - Joseph Rock, Prunus Amanogawa (Flagpole cherry) , Hawthorn, Liquidamber etc etc.

NextSteps

Alun wrote:

What on earth is a "sally tree"?

As in `down by the sally gardens...`. The Irish is `crann saile`; I presume it comes from that!

joseph brand

joseph, just wondering where you picked up the Cherry Blossom. I'm trying to source a good one at the moment, but any I have seen have been below par.

We got ours in a garden centre in Navan, on Kells road, just in on the right before right turn for Woodies.
Navan Plant Centre
Balmoral Estate Kells rd Navan Meath.

Very nice people working in here, almost humble?

joseph brand

Just as an aside. It is not a good idea to feed dry bread to birds, particularly at nesting time. The bread will reconstitute in the gullet of the chicks and can choke them. So if you do feed bread, soak it in a dish of water first.

Thanks bmaxi for that thought. It's also worth noting that peanuts can choke the young chicks this time of year. I use a blender to chop them into dust, talk about noisy!!

Just discovered that the tree planted by the council, outside my house is a Rowan tree.

delly

Great. Live in Drogheda so 'tis a short spin.

luckat

Careful with the sallies (salix in Latin as well as sáile in Irish, btw); they've got thirsty roots that can seek out and open up your water pipes.

bauderline

You could also consider some blackcurrant bushes, very tasty for you and the birds....

joseph brand

I have a blackcurrant bush in front garden. I'm gonna plant a Cotoneaster bush as it seems very popular with the birds, like the Rowan tree.

Still considering planting a Hawthorn, . . .don't know if I should try to propagate or buy one??

Reyman

The usefullness of a tree to birds is largely a function of the number and variety of insects it supports.
So here's the league table of the best (if my memory serves me correctly):

1. Oak tree
2. Hawthorn tree
3. Willow tree

Stoner

My father an I planted a garden and small orchard in west Clare, we
started it about 17 years ago, anyway in that time we planted a decent
amount of trees, we had failures in the hundreds, Initially we grew
them in lines, the outside lines ended up being sallies as they were
the only things that would grow in the windy, wet, poor soil, salty
conditions. Nicer looking trees grew and established behind them once
the shelter bed was established.

We also used some of that green wind breaker. Thing is with that the
small birds loved it, it attracted insects like mad, the birds would
fly from the trees over and back to it, we also always kept water in
the place (made a small pond, this was also popular for the birds to
drink from and once again catch insects around.)

In the end about 5 years ago the amount of small birds in the garden
attracted a pair of hawks to then garden followed by a pair of
Peregrine Falcons (when these arrived the hawks split) anyway it was
great to have them in the garden, the wild life guys came out to check
them out at the time, the guy said the garden was perfect for the
falcons as it had some high trees and loads of thick cover for small
birds to live in, i.e. lots of food for them.

So my long winded point is that trees and conditions that attract
insects are just as good for getting birds into the garden, as are
thick covering small trees and shrubs were small birds can
forage for insects and worms in safety.

feorais

joseph brand wrote:

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good type of tree to plant out the back garden of an average size semi-detached house, that birds could feed from?

I am currently feeding bread and apples to the sparrows/finches and blackbirds.

I am asking now as I heard it is good time for planting.

Thanks

Kev

Mid May is not a great time to sow unless you are relentless with a good watering regime, any prolonged dry spell and the tree will suffer irreparable damage. Cotoneaster, bought as a standard, would provide berries for blackbirds and Thrushes in Auitumn and Winter Sorbus or Rowan would be ok. but tend to grow quite large for an ordinary back garden. Another good choice would be a Pyracantha sowed along a wall and trained in.

feorais

UB wrote:

As in `down by the sally gardens...`. The Irish is `crann saile`; I presume it comes from that!

Its proper name is a Willow tree, there are several different types. They are really only suitable for wet areas and usually grow very large. They are used for basket weaving, making creels etc.If you find an Amelanchier tree for sale and you have reasonable space, it is a good choice, nice spring blossoms.

joseph brand

Being the dreamer that I am, I often wish I could have a large garden where I could plant all sorts of trees, especially the Sessile Oak and Scots Pine (which I am trying to grow from seeds from cones).

Some day I will, but until then, I will hone my skills and be ready for a bigger canvas/garden.

@ stoner, to have 2 Peregrine Falcons in your field where you could observe them sound amazing. Would be great to have some Owls also??