Bird Feeding station Review

Bird feeding station

and 

Parasol Base

Something for you bird lovers out there today, I absolutely love birds especially the wild ones and always want to help them out.

I did have my bird feeders hanging from a beautiful tree in our garden but the squirrels had destroyed many of my feeders as well as eating all the food. Not that I mind the squirrels at all, but I was going through too many feeders.
I didn't want to stop feeding the wild birds so I decided to try a bird feeding station, hoping a squirrel wouldn't be able to climb a thin pole.

So after hunting through the internet; I finally found one I liked on offer from Argos and bought it.

Packaging
Like most Argos products you don't get any fancy packaging just a cardboard box.

Description
This "metal" self contained feeding station is a perfect way to encourage wild birds into your garden if you don't have any trees, or you have a small garden. We had trouble finding reviews to say this is made of metal not plastic; so I wanted to emphasize "its made of metal" for those that want to know.

 It arrives flatpacked for you to put together.

The instructions are self explanatory and easy to understand.

You get;

• Top Finial and 2 hanging feeder hooks,
• 1 extra feeder hook,
• Middle pole,
• Bottom pole with sharpened point to go into ground,
• Removable waterbowl,
• Removable black mesh feeding bowl that is built into a pole section,
• Wingnuts,
• Instruction sheet.

Its full height is 226cm high but you lose a good 20cm or more in the ground. Height above ground is approx 185cm but it will depend on your soil. You need to push into the ground until it feels stable. Its easy to push in as the end pole has a flattened end.

 Yay I did this all by myself...Im so proud!

I found this really easy to put together, yes ladies you can do this without hubby helping out.

 It comes with a lovely ornate twirly finial top to give some elegance to your garden.

I love that this feeder station comes with a 3rd matching hanger. I certainly need this as I have a hungry rabble of birds to feed.

It slides over the main pole and tightened at the back at your choice of height. It also stops them swinging round when a heavier bird lands on them. Although I have this comical image in my head now of a surprised pigeon at it hits this at full speed and ends up spinning round lol.

I prefer it fixed as high as it can go so it looks like 3 matching feeder hooks.

Both hooks reach out from the central pole 8.75 inches wide.

The black mesh feeder is 7 inches in diameter. It keeps the seed clean as husk can blow naturally away or fall through the mesh.

It can be slid over the central pole and tightened at any height again with the wingnut. I really like the thickened edge perfect for little feet to grip on and feed easily.

 The white translucent all in one waterbowl and bird bath is 7.5 inches in diameter and is removable to wash and fill up. It also has a nice half inch lip for birdy feet to grip.

This also slides over the central pole and is tightened with the wing nut at your chosen height. If you find the poles are slightly loose you can realign the water, food bowl bowl or hanger over the joins, this will give added rigidity.

 Its really secure and sits firmly in the metal ring, it also washes and cleans easily too.
*See the join on the pole above; I could have slid the bowl slightly upwards to cover the join for more stability if Id needed to.

 It looked really good but I lost alot of height as I had to push the pole at least a foot into the ground as we have really sandy loose soil and it really didn't feel that stable enough by itself.

So my genius other half suggested getting a parasol base so I wouldn't lose the height and it keeps the pole stable if a larger bird lands on it. I would have thought of that...honest!

So we got a couple of heavy concrete parasol bases from Homebase as they were cheaper than Argos's versions. For the record you can get more ornate bases if you want your feeding station to look like a garden centre piece.

I was tempted with this pretty square wooden one. But I could see bird seed getting stuck inbetween and wood will eventually rot, so we chose a more basic concrete base that was also heavier and felt it would be more stable.

 Concrete Parasol base has a steel pole surrounded in black plastic, the base itself is painted a smooth black.

The base even has little feet, not that we needed them as its going on grass. I was surprised at just how weighty this was...in a good way.
For use with poles up to 45mm,
Height 32cm,
Base diamter is 40cm
Weight is 9kg.

The little cup (with hook) is a clever little device that comes with the base which has adjustable rings inside it to accomodate pole diameters up to 45mm. This tightens around the whole pole to grip the parasol steady; its just a brilliant idea.

 Once the pole was in; the screw tightens well and it really keeps in secure. Our only concern was it filling with rain water and rusting from the inside out. So with some duct tape its now neatly taped and waterproof. Ok it may not look pretty but I'm not looking for pretty I'm looking for a durable feeder pole.

 Tip: for longevity add some sealant to prevent any rain getting in; instead of the duct tape.

 Ive now gained another foot in height and the birds will feel alot safer.

 Here is my feeder station with all my feeders added; I love to offer my wild birds a larger variety of seeds to try and attract different species. If you look carefully you can see I managed to snap a Great Tit eating a peanut.

If you are wondering what an upsidown flowerpot is fixed underneath for; I actually had this idea to prevent any clever squirrels shimmying the pole as it prevents any squirrels from getting onto the feeder and stealing all the food. Even though I love the squirrels too they can be very destructive to plastic feeders.

I loved this feeding station it was extremely well made, good welding joins and its all really secure. The concrete parasol base works brilliantly and so far we haven't had any falling over disasters.

I loved my 1st one so much as it attracted so many birds I decided to get a 2nd feeding station; as they were still on offer too.

But this time the welds were not as neat as my first feeding station and one of the nuts wasn't welded on inline with the hole. See the left hand side image you can see the wingnut is at an angle. So my other half had to grind 4mm off the nut so it fitted into the hole. Image on the right shows small welds which wont take much to break away. Luckily I have a welder in the family.

Opinion

For all you bird lovers this is an extremely well made bird feeding station in most cases. Even if you did receive a badly welded version as long as the nuts were usable you wouldn't really notice bad welds.

I really love the mesh feeder and water bath and my wild birds use these daily and its been exciting watching these little guys use the stations. I would still rather use the trees and more natural feeder holders but these have worked just as well and the birds love them just as when I had the feeders in the tree.

Birds so far Ive had Blue tits, Great tits, a Spotted Woodpecker, Magpies, Rooks, Long Tailed Tits, Gold Finches, Pheasants, Chaffinches.

This self contained feeding station is perfect for those of you with smaller gardens or want to watch wild birds from the comfort of your home or summer house; by choosing where the birds will feed.
A perfect gift for bird lovers.

Pro's

• Made of metal not plastic,
• 3 feeder hooks,
• Bird bath and feed bowl,
• Well made,
• All self contained to move where you wish for better viewing.

Con's

• May have some dodgy welds on some.

Argos  Wild bird feeding station

£17.99

Plus

Homebase Concrete garden parasol base

£19.99

*Prices will change as the feeding station is still on offer at the time of this posting.

For wildlife out there; I will be bringing a fun review product to you very soon.

Little Acorn Trail Camera

I have been reviewing an exciting product coming up, something Ive wanted for a few years and was kindly offered one to review a few months ago. The Little Acorn Trail Camera.

Heres a sneak peak of the Trail Cam attached to my outdoor tripod and focused on the feeding station.

During my time trying to capture some footage I managed to get these photos it took of one of the new feeding stations. I hope it makes you laugh as much we did.

Note; Squirrel 1 ontop laughing at squirrel 2 hanging onto pole for dear life and sliding down. His expression is just priceless. The photo was at 12 million pixels from the Little Acorn trail cam. While a rat leaps from nowhere to attack this defenseless female pheasant while feeding....she wasn't injured in the filming of this image.

If you didn't laugh...whats the matter with you...?

This one captured my cheeky squirrels on both feeding stations.

So much for a squirrel deterent huh!

Many more images and video footage when I post my full photo review of this amazing Trail cam.