Aldi bird seed & feeders, 04.02.10

mrmac

FYI - Aldi, Thursday 04th Feb.

Camera nest box, bird boxes, spotting scope, bird bath, seed, seed/peanut feeders, fat balls, etc. etc.

BrianD3

Was going to post a thread on this. The feeders and feeder stand seem to be 1/3 the price of similar items in Woodies DIY. The mealworms are also way cheaper.

doctor evil

Do you think the quality of the seed will be any good? Need to stock up on peanuts anyway (for the last of the cold weather)

Can meal worms be put into a plastic cylindrical feeder with ports?

mrmac

The 12.5kg bag of Wild Bird Seed seems to be ok, as I got a bag the last time these where in stock, and it's being eaten by Robins, Starlings, Great Tits, Greenfinches, Wrens, Thrushes and a flood of other species I haven't figured out yet. It's a big, heavy bag, so bring some help to carry it.

The finches are having a great time with the peanuts, they love them, and the Great Tits really enjoy the Fat Snax Balls!

I really couldn't say if the stuff is good quality, or not - but I know the birds are eating it, so I'm going to get some more.

I put up a feeding station at the start of December, and it's taken this long for the birds to get used to it. 2 seed feeders, 1 Niger seed feeder, 1 peanut feeder and a multi-hook thing to hang the fat snax on. It's only 6 feet from my window, and it's really amazing to watch, especially the odd skirmish by the Great Tits who like to scare everyone away!

I've a young Starling that does crazy acrobatics on one of the seed feeders, to get to the seed. Probably spills more than he eats, but that works out ok for the "ground" birds. I throw a small amount of seed around the edge of my garden to encourage the shy'er birds to visit, and that seems to be working too.

Dusty87

The nest box would be nice with the camera. Would you want it in a ditch? The hedges are a good distance from the house and i think an esb pole would be a bit out in the open??

snowman707

Dusty87 wrote: »

The nest box would be nice with the camera. Would you want it in a ditch? The hedges are a good distance from the house and i think an esb pole would be a bit out in the open??

it has 30 metres of cable supplied, possibly you could extend this but I imagine it may affect picture quality.

Half-cocked

snowman707 wrote: »

it has 30 metres of cable supplied, possibly you could extend this but I imagine it may affect picture quality.

I've extended cables without any problems. I've attached 2 x 25 metre cables together with adaptors. You might have trouble if you try attaching too many together though, and you'll need a high quality 9v power supply if you do extend a long way. If you do have a drop in quality, make sure you haven't got any excess cable length coiled up as this can create interference.

Dusty87

snowman707 wrote: »

it has 30 metres of cable supplied, possibly you could extend this but I imagine it may affect picture quality.

Yea the ditches would be further than that. Is a evergreen forest around 20 metres in one direction but no songbirds in there.
Would the pole or side of shed be too open??

Half-cocked

I have blue tits regularly inspecting a box I put on the side of my shed. I thought it might be a bit low, but now I'm optimistic I'll get nesters. Just don't put it on the side of the shed that will get strong sunshine in the Summer - it will be too hot inside. Mine is close to a hedge so the birds can flit too and from it into cover.

VERYinterested

Bought one of the spotting scopes, for €25 it's a bargain! Well made, sturdy, tripod and case included, easy to use.

gzoladz

VERYinterested wrote: »

Bought one of the spotting scopes, for €25 it's a bargain! Well made, sturdy, tripod and case included, easy to use.

Is it working ok? I went today and bought some peanuts, cakes with their holders and the water garnment. I examined the scope for a while but I concluded I did not want to waste €25 as it can not be any good for that price.

fryup

just wondering, can that camera box be set up to send a wireless signal to a TV instead of using the cable??

jmkennedyie

The camera has a connector similar to s-video, but with 6 pins. The camera receives power from this cable. There is a scart + power adapter for the other end of the cable.

The kit includes a note about accessories. You can get a 2 channel 2 GB SD Card Digital Video Recorder (GBP 49.99) which can record up to 12 hr of motion activated video / or 20000 stills. Also additional 20M cables (GBP 9.99)

The supplier is www.homenetproducts.co.uk - might be other accessories there.

VERYinterested

gzoladz wrote: »

Is it working ok? I went today and bought some peanuts, cakes with their holders and the water garnment. I examined the scope for a while but I concluded I did not want to waste €25 as it can not be any good for that price.

Yes it's working fine, pleasantly surprised. As I said in my previous post, it was a bargain and I wouldn't have said that if it was a piece of crap. Was in a couple of Aldi stores today and the Scopes were all sold out.

gzoladz

VERYinterested wrote: »

Yes it's working fine, pleasantly surprised. As I said in my previous post, it was a bargain and I wouldn't have said that if it was a piece of crap. Was in a couple of Aldi stores today and the Scopes were all sold out.

Great! I will keep that in mind for future reference.

Half-cocked

Was up in Aldi in Ballymun this morning and they still have loads of bird seed/fatballs/meal worms/feeders in stock if anyone needs to restock.

hph

does anyone know how you connect the camera on the bird box to a computer please. what do i need to join up to the scart lead.

Spud76

I've just bought an Aldi bird box kit for €39 which was advertised as allowing the user "to see nature in full colour" the packaging states a number of times that the kit will operate in full colour and even has colour pictures of a nest on the box. The kit only operates in Black & White, not a trace of colour and it is not even a clear B&W picture, the infra red lights are too bright so you get a bright white spot in the middle of the TV screen and a washed out image overall.

This would appear to be blatant false advertising on the part of Aldi, selling cheap kits/cameras as full colour cameras when they are clearly not. Be warned the "colour kit" will NOT give you colour images. The box is poorly designed without windows and the camera while technically colour (if used outside on a bright day) will only ever operate in B&W in the low light available inside a bird box.

I think its a case of if you really want the right product, in this case Colour Camera Bird Box Kit then you need to go to a dedicated supplier, Aldi are cheap and in this case you get a disappointing product that is not worth the money.