More Blackbird appetites…

Thu 26th January 2012

The Blackbirds that arrived to strip my pyracantha a few weeks ago are still around – I’m making it worth their while with offerings of apples and sultanas.

It seems that Blackbirds LOVE apples, especially the soft wrinkley ones from the bottom of the fruit pile. I’ve been cutting them in half and leaving them on the lawn under the feeders, and within the hour they have been enthusiastically set upon!

series of images of blackbird eating an apple

The birds take great beakfuls of the flesh and gulp them down, until eventually all that remains is an empty bowl of skin, of which there is no trace the following day! I’m going to try them with dessert pears next, which I’m predicting will go down even better, being softer and sweeter…!

empty skin of half an apple after blackbird has eaten the flesh

Sultanas are another fave, and my Blackbirds will fly up to take them from inside a hanging bird house, once they’ve realised they’re there – similar to their berry plucking behaviour! I did wonder whether I should soak sultanas first to make them more manageable, but then I read that blackbirds’ beaks offer them such a broad gape that they can swallow cherries whole!