We all love robins in the UK, don’t we? Some of us love them so much we have a family member named after them, don’t we (Robyn, our daughter!)?  Robins were voted our national bird in 1960 and people seem to really love having them in their gardens, even though they’re feisty and bossy little birds. They’re related to the blackbird and the nightingale too, as were classed are members of the thrush family, but now have been reclassified as members of the  Old World Flycatcher family – they usually can raise three broods of chicks a year, but some have been known to raise as many as five broods! Robins are territorial and will fight to the death, apparently, they will not enter standard nest boxes, as they like to nest in open-fronted boxes, and mealworms are their favourite food. (Available separately in our shop or on our website too)...

Wheat Free/No Wheat Wild Bird Food This is one of our most popular wild bird foods, mainly because all the seeds contained in this food are suitable for most of smaller birds that you will see in your garden, and hopefully attract to your feeder. Its loved by blue tits, robins, goldfinches, thrushes, blackbirds and many more (well those are the birds we see eating it in our garden on a regular basis!) Wheat is in lots of cheaper wild bird foods you will see in Budget supermarkets or the Cheaper stores, its primarily used as a filler as it is the cheapest ingredient in most wild bird foods ,although some of the ones I investigated (yes we do look at what competitors are up to!) contain 95% wheat.  Some birds will eat wheat and love to do so, including pheasants and pigeons, but they leave a mess and then the...

Once upon a Time there was a farmer who made and sold pigeon corns and decided to try his hand at making wild bird foods, yes that’s us and if you’ve read the ‘About Us’ section on our website then you will know all about how it started and that we began our mixing using a cement mixer ( a clean new one), and  how we’ve moved on from there  and what we do here on our farm and in the shop and wholesale section too. Deluxe Wild Bird food was the first mix we made, we have refined and tweaked it over the years but its still a great food and fabulous value for money. As people’s interest has increased and more and more seeds are introduced into bird foods to attract different birds to your garden or feeder this entry level bird food is still as popular as it...

It’s been a while since I posted a blog, life just seems to get in the way doesn’t it? We had our Pumpkin picking last month which was really successful and people really enjoyed visiting our farm to Pick their own pumpkins, as it was our first year and a trial really, we had underestimated just how popular the event would be and amazingly, we sold out on our first weekend. We had so much positive feedback from the event that we have decided to do it all again next year, only this time we will be planting more pumpkins to hopefully keep up with demand, and Covid permitting, we will be able to offer more than just pumpkin picking. Many of you will also know that I have acquired two donkeys, Tom and Jerry, who are settling into farm life really well and are enjoying their new life immensely. They’re...

No, he’s not praying, but multi-tasking.  We were off on our walk on Easter Sunday, another lovely day during these strangest of times, and Chris decided he needed to check the newly sown crops to see if they had germinated.  I hate to say it, but we could do with a good shower of rain to set them off. This time when it rains, I hope it remembers when to stop, unlike last Autumn/Winter when we seemed to have rain every day from September.  The dogs follow Chris everywhere and only seem to obey me when he’s not around, other than that I’m relegated – they both adore him which I think the picture shows, plus the fact that mobile phones can find you anywhere…. There is no escape! We walked miles and saw lots of wildlife and birdlife too, the hedges are in bloom and nature seems to be carrying...

I’m not sure if we are adapting to this ‘staying at home’, or its just become more habit forming. Things seem to have slowed up from the initial panic in our shop and the same on the wholesale side. People are back with their regular orders - although we are seeing a lot of new faces in the shop, plus lots of our older customers are sending other family members or kind neighbours to collect their chicken foods, dog foods etc. I’m so impressed with our customers who are happy to respect the social distancing regulations we have had to put into place in the shop. We can still put items into your cars, but the One-in-One-out rule has been implemented for the safety of our customers and staff too, so thank you all for your patience and humour, too. Its so lovely to know that so many are still feeding...

Those of you who feed the birds, and thankfully there are many of us, will have noticed that your feeders are being emptied more quickly and that there are more smaller birds visiting your feeders and bird tables too. This is the time of year that our garden birds have juveniles which are ready to leave the nests; they are able to fly for short distances and are shown where the best food sources are by their parents, which is usually our garden bird tables and feeders. We have noticed some small balls of fluff, identified as baby blue tits waiting patiently near the feeders and watching carefully what mum and dad are showing them. As these youngsters are easy prey until they get older and wiser, and hopefully they will live to get older there are a few ways in which we can help them without too much trouble to...