Personally, Joel, I could listen to you talk for hours -- all day, in fact. Make them as long as is needed for the subject 👍😀

There's another step I take to help birds in my garden & that's keeping it a cat free zone, it's horrific how many birds are killed by cats every year, after seeing 5 different cats last year trying to catch the birds I'd had enough & took steps to keep them out, the fact I'm home a lot & with all the ring cameras I have out in the garden to watch the visiting hedgehogs all help in my battle to keep cats away.

I have a decent size (for suburbia) yard. I already have a LOT of trees. My neighbors aren’t so bonkers about it, I suspect, but I always say cool, trim whatever is on your side or bugging you) but I have several little bird families that have hatched. I have a few birdhouses, and to my surprise, they have used them. Just simple little ones, I live in California. I put them in a sheltered place. I was charmed. They were just decorative, fun little projects for the the grandkids. Now, I want to let my lawn grow wild in the back, I put down wildflowers on one side. We’ll see what happens. I already saw something, some birds came and hung out in the right (unmowed) side while I was sprinkling. Now, I’m hooked. I want my whole yard to be a meadow. I do have a little terrier 🙈. But he he’s elderly, and my cat is STRICTLY indoors. My dog is not not so old to be able to keep out OTHER cats, (and actually, our neighbors are really good about keeping their cats in, no wanderers) but we always make sure the coast is clear before he goes out. I have been doing the pet hair since last year. I have a bird bath, but I noticed when I was sprinkling today😅 that the birds (doves) went and laid in the unmanicured side in the longer grass it was so dang sweet. I’m hooked. I do feed them, but I don’t want to attract huge flocks, (or make them TOO dependent) so I put out just some, maybe a bit more during nesting time. I put suet cakes, same, but in winter too. Different birds, but sounds like I’m on the right track. Oh. And we DO have an absolutely beautiful blue falcon, and occasionally a hawk, but I do agree they need to eat too, they’ve been squeezed out of natural habitat. our trees give a lot of cover, but they have babies to feed too! It’s sad when they eat one of the doves. But it’s part of nature. A cat? I’d cry. And be pissed off. Horrible. Keep your fat well fed cats in. But a falcon? Sad, but…I absolutely enjoyed this! Thank you. It was exactly what I was looking for! New Subscriber here! And the length was fine. There’s a lot to tell people!♥️ oh, if you read this, I’d like to know a good way to keep the squirrels from getting into the nests and killing the babies/eating the eggs. I have no problem with squirrels, that’s part of it, but….I don’t want to make a smorgasbord for them either.

I think 20-30 minutes is a great video length. I have found all the videos of yours I’ve watched very informative and inspirational. I think a live stream would be pretty cool.

Great idea to stuff straw, dog hair in a bird feeder for nest material..Will definitely give that a go Brilliant video, full of reminders for us all..Thank you! Nice to meet Siri, he's beautiful!😊🐾🐾

So glad I found you! Greetings from the fabulous state of Indiana, The Midwest, USA! Great video and by that I mean, not too slow, not too fast, no monotones, no wild gestering, no UMs, and you are relaxed without wasting time. Thanks! I am going to do all this stuff - ALL OF IT, and I am wondering how I can collect my tiny dogs' hairs.... Anyway I look forward to seeing your other videos and I hope dearly and fervently that when you give plant selections you tell people use those NATVE TO YOUR AREA. From your knowledge here, I bet you do know how important that it for everyone from bugs on up. Finally, it is shocking but strangely comforting to hear that somewhere on our great planet, Starlings and English sparrows are not wreaking absolute havok. Also Engilsh Ivy!!! Do NOT get me started on that awful stuff which should be outlawed here. Next you will say plant privet and autumn olive (but please not japanese honeysuckle-bain of my existence!!). Oh what a big planet we live on, yet too small for all us people. ANYWAY, GO BIRDS. That's why I love bugs. Thanks again for the video and for loving hawks too. And let's all drink a toast to bats! Wonderful mammal creatures, wonderful pollinators and bug-eaters. That's why I love bats. That and they are as cute as anyone else, including Eastern bluebirds.

Great video as always Joel! One thing I would add in regards to putting out pet hair - please only do this if your pet hasn't been prophylactically treated with flea treatment. This is an incredibly effective pesticide that has been proven to affect chicks as the chemicals can and will permeate through the eggshell into the fetal birds 😔

Great video Joel. You mentioned sparrowhawk. I had an amazing experience this morning on my plot. I think it was a female sparrow hawk caught a wood pigeon in mid air a couple of metres away from me. It landed by my shed and the crows were going mad. As I was so close the crows didn’t bother her. I was keeping still she could see me but carried on eating the pigeon. Amazing!

I just love how in tune with nature and noticed the quiet.

I've only just found you on KZfaq (I know - shame on me!) but I'm binge watching as many as I can and loving them. I only have a small garden (30' long and 10' wide) but I have managed to put in 5 trees (lilac, mountain ash, bramley apple, cherry, a 5' chrstmas tree that was just a twig 8 years ago and there's a cordyline which is about 20' and was in the garden when I moved in) The robins are actually nesting in the cordyline this year. You were talking about sparrowhawks taking smaller garden birds. A few weeks ago I was in the garden and a sparrowhawk came out of nowhere and took a collared dove. It landed in my neighbours garden and then flew off with it. It was amazing and horrifying in equal measure! On the subject of video length.......the longer the better as far as I'm concerned 🙂

Beautiful dog

Just discovered your channel! Love it. I do all of your suggestions 😉. We are here in Southern California. Lots of sparrows and lots of starlings, among other birds. Thank you! ❤

Hour long videos are great, especially for a nice late evening in bed.

I watched this on Sunday night but forgot to make a comment. I’ve been collecting long hairs of mine from my different hairbrushes for the birds. I remember 30 odd years ago brushing the family’s German Shepherd & the birds just flocked down near me for Zekes hair. Starlings, blackbirds, house sparrows & magpies. Just great memories & a 👍🏻 video from Joel. Thanks

I love to tinker in the garden as the season change new ideas and landscapes pop into my head. My work life balance is certainly swayed to nature these day,so it's win win !

Hi just found your channel. I'm going to really enjoy your videos 🙂 so I'll have a binge watch.

Great video. Videos about 20-25mins are fine with me!

We have 5 cats and our bird food stand was getting no visits in our backgarden so we moved it to the front garden and we've had blue tits, pigeons, sparrows and even starlings visit. It's absolutely lovely seeing the blue tits land on the feeder, grab a mouthful of peanut kibble and then dart over to our acer. Once our fushias come back they make great cover as well as our climbers out the back, our dog rose bush and our 2 trees. Very happy.

Yep. When the birds go suddenly silent .... my gaze goes immediately skyward! Keep up the awesome work!

I can watch any length video, and look forward to your fence climbers etc video

Great sharing 👌👌👌👌👌

Hello Joel, I'm new here. Last Autumn, I bought two Bird feeder's, one with a bottem tray feeder and one with open wire mesh for birds who like clinging on while feeding. Using a general mix of seed for most garden Birds, I was only able to hang them about 7 feet high , 8 ft apart , and 15 feet from my Kitchen window. Apart from one visitor, I've never seen ANY birds show interest. Not even when I was tucked up in bed at first light, because the seed levels have not changed. I later hung the feeders on the opposite ends of my Circular washing line, that is now redundant. It would hardly move because all the wires and arms are tied up. SO--I started to scatter the seed around the garden, and very soon many visitors came, mostly Pigeons, Magpies, and Blackbirds. OH--and Squirrels, followed by Rats. So I stopped the feeding. Your opinion and advice, Please . Phil Croft Somerset.

Hi Joel, love the information we get from these videos. There’s always something new to learn, putting nesting material into a bird feeder I wouldn’t have thought of that in a million years. 30 to 45 minutes would probably be a good length for the videos with some feature length specials and interviews 🐝

20-30 mins I reckon is ideal !!

Love all this information,thank you and well done👋🥰👋

That is one gorgeous canine. What a set of eyes!

Simple and attainable tips, as I've not had luck getting the local birds to stick around my place. New subscriber now going for results, thanks for the vids!

My four Great Pyrenees contribute barrels full of nest material to all the birds.

Love the videos, 20 mins is a idea video length I think. Taken so many tips for my own garden

I am a first time listener from NJ, USA. I have had success with Eastern Bluebirds nest boxes and my own wildlife pond. Hours of fun!

I live on a woodland edge. I've been feeding the birds for years. Our winters are long, cold and snowy so it's a real help for them. This winter our sharp shins didn't migrate, probably due to good Autumn/early winter weather and the buffet out back. I love hawks but It is heart breaking to see and hear the jays and starlings being grabbed. ( I prefer they take their catch far away. ) Sadly I witnessed quite a few this Winter. The birds have become wary so this season we haven't seen many song birds. They come in a flurry and leave as fast. I took down any window feeders so as not to make them more vulnerable. Right now I am looking at a female sharpie sitting above a feeder. Because of the lack of birds, a lot of food has been eaten up by squirrels. Our squirrels are the size of chipmunks. We now have 9 out back. Good food, good breeding. I am really hoping the female hawks move further into the forest for the summer. (the smaller males are only a nuisance to jays and starlings) BTW I go through huge amounts of home made suet. The starlings indeed LOVE it. They don't stick around long though. I always try and educate people on the size of food during nesting time. I buy large bags of dried dog food and moisten it with hot water to make it soft. It's what I feed our crows all year round.

A fantastic video ! We have a great array of birds in our garden and all your points are so important to follow .We also have a resident pair of sparrowhawks, we have actually seen them both catch starlings and we even saw the female catch a jackdaw and a pigeon , an incredible sight . Sparrowhawks are truly stunning . We love all our birds ,they all have different characters and food preferences.. Our starlings absolutely love homemade fat balls that have all the kitchen scraps in them ! The tits all love the nuts . Our crows enjoy the bits of meat we put out and the rooks love the ground seed. The sparrows love the feeders .And the boss of our garden is our robin, he is full of it and often throwing his weight around and loves mealworms!

just subscribed, awsome videos 20 mins would be just nice bite sized vids.

I have 22 different birds visiting my garden. I took your previous advice about creating cover for them in the form of tree cuttings which I build up at the very back next to my hedge. The birds just love it.

Sparrowhawks are the very strict fitness instructors in my garden, they provide the daily training for all the other birds. :-) They try to hunt on an almost daily basis here but succeed only a couple of times a year. They are very much needed in nature. I was surprised though when I saw the female attack 4 adult collar doves on the ground feeder, those are quite a good size prey especially in groups.

Am new to your channel I like the wild bird stuff

I have robins that nest on the elbow of my gutter every year. It is fun to watch them raise there brood. Fortunate to live in the countryside with 2 acres of land lots of trees and shrubs( across the pond middle of the USA).

I'd happily watch you talk for hours, I love your videos. 20-30 minutes does work well though - I watch when I'm cooking, ironing, doing the dishes etc. We moved in to our first home last summer, and the whole side wall is covered in bird boxes. We also have boxes built in to the rafters which I think is incredible. We get a lot of sparrows, starlings and last summer had swifts nest in the rafter boxes! It was wonderful watching the babies learning to fly - a loop above the gardens and back. It's also great seeing what you can do in a terrace (our situation too), showing you don't need acres of space. We're trying to re-build the garden and make it as wildlife, child and dog friendly as possible. Very pleased to say I'm doing most of what you've suggested already (just got to get the honeysuckle to start growing up the garage wall!). Off to check out the shrubs video! Keep up the good work.

A pleasure to see you and to hear your wise words of advice Joel . Thanks 😊

Really enjoyed this video thanks Joel!

Good video Joel. Thank you for your dedication to the cause. I've had an allotment I've been slowly building more and more each year. This springs big building tasks is to attract as much wildlife as possible so with much of your tuition on past videos, I am about to build a wildlife pond, a honeycomb bug and bird box wall with hexagon boxes and a mix of bug wall materials, bird boxes and bee and butterfly flowering plants mixed in between, more pollinator plants in amongst the veg and many bird feeders spread all over the plot and if I get any more spare time I might even get some veg In the raised beds.

Informational and building video I like 20+/- min video :)

Talking about dog hair providing materials for birds, I have a funny story. When I was a teenager I used to comb my hair in my room, and then I would throw the loose hair out the window (I guess because I was too lazy to go to the bathroom to throw it in the bin). And then one early spring my dad came to get me to show me something. He had been cleaning the bird boxes in the garden and in the box closest to my window, the nest was probably about 70% my hair, haha. He didn't even know I used to throw my hair out the window like that, but it was just so obviousy made out of my hair. I hope it provided good warmth for the chicks that year, haha. I can't remember, but it was probably a blue tit or a great tit that had lived there.

I’m happy to like and subscribe, thank you for the advice

Could you do some more videos for beginners on birds, pitching that we don’t know birds and have zero clue what we are doing, I know we have blackbirds and about five or six different small things (birds!) so we can learn how to know what bird boxes would be best for each bird, we have just built some boxes from your videos but there is lots we don’t understand at a real basic level Like how important different sizes holes are, we couldn’t get them the correct size. Swift / swallow boxes? Which are good and where they need to go. How many, what even is a swift! 😂 Both lengths is good, a deep dive lesson is great which would be longer and also the smaller videos. They are all amazing ❤ Oh a 101 of how to build cover and food quickly would be a great video too, like we’ve planted trees etc but starting from grass we will be waiting another fair few years until they cover anything. If there are ideas to help while you are waiting for the plants to grow that would be great

Thank you for the educational pointers. I already have most in place where I live. As for video length half an hour is a good marker depending on what topic you are covering. Keep up the great work and love for natural surroundings.🌻🦋🍀

Bonjour excellent top lles maisonnettes merci pour eux les Oiseaux 🙏🙏🙏

Ideal video length: approx 15-30 minutes works best for me. I'm not sure how many bird species still visit my garden now. When I first moved to my property 2 decades ago, I recorded 46 species over a 2 year period. (Then we had 2 wickedly cold winters at -20C, the Neonicotinoid era, and some thoughtless neighbours bought peacocks - which instantly went on the rampage and killed lots of small birds. Thank goodness for foxes with discerning tastes). I think we're down to about a dozen species of bird now. However, I help what birds I have left (including a regular nesting pair of song thrushes) by continuing to plant an increasing range of interesting berry and fruit trees and bushes (my garden is a combined permaculture and wildlife project). I'm lucky in that I was a professional gardener some years back and still a keen home gardener now, so I'd learned lots of propagating techniques, which enables me to add hundreds of new plants for free every year. Most birds seem to love feasting on the 'red' raspberries and red/white currants more than anything else in the garden. I find they only start eating other fruit once these particular plants run dry (and since I've now bought a wide range of raspberry hybrids that cover the entire summer right up to the first frost, they are rarely without their favourite food. I've planted the furthest corner of the garden with raspberries specifically for the birds and don't go near them when they ripen. There are also several brash heaps and a small section of brash hedge in that part of the garden, so plenty of cover. Not much 'permanent' water there, now I come to think of it. There's a spring, but it quickly dries up after rainfall. Going to have to work out a way of capturing some of the water in a permanent pool.

Cute ng birds

This is so helpful. I am going to spend my morning taking care of the birds

Joel, I love you and could watch and listen to you tall about nature and wildlife all day long. I'd love to meet you one day. 🙂

We have sparrows nesting in next doors bushes, we also get a Sparrowhawk who just jumps into the bush for a help youself breakfast buffet. But the sparrows carry on nesting there and there are always plenty of them, so it seems to work for both predator and prey.

Loved the wild woodland area Joel. Also can’t wait for that video and the front garden project. Clearly more needs to be done in my garden. Number 1 being the pond.

Hey! Love the videos, and since you're asking for feedback, I'll say that I'm most likely to pop in for a 15-20 minute video. I choose these before or after work, when I've maybe got an hour to gather some new information. I'd love to watch videos for up to an hour, and I know on certain topics it's hard to crunch down, but I have to schedule time for videos when they are over 30 minutes. If they are under 30 minutes, you'll catch me impulsively watching several of them. Silly feedback, but probably relevant!

Hi Joel. Great video (as always). I already collect nesting material in an old feeder. Have been doing it for years and it's great to see bird's using it. I've not had so much luck with nesting boxes, but I will try again. 🤞 I didn't know you had 3 dogs so seeing Siri is just fab. Such a handsome boy. 💙 Take care.

20 to 30 min is great,longer is nice too. Great info

Aw bless that doggie he is a beauty for sure he’s loved probably very spoilt too ha ha ! Just found your Chanel I want to encourage blackbirds and rooks but pigeons scare them!

Half an hour is good

I didn't know about sparrows n starlings thx

Your videos in your own garden were my very favorites which brought me to your channel, I've watched them multiple times! I was pretty sad that there was no follow up videos after the june tour haha! I so very much love seeing the same space progressing over time, different times of the year. Especially when it's a city garden like my own. Great to hear you'll be back in your own garden and curious to see how the front garden will turn out!

Problem for us is that with a wildlife pond and a timber constructed sunken seating area every time we put out feeders we have an issue with rats therefore we have had to stop feeding birds unfortunately

GoodVibes

As one of the bird nest material, I use lint from my dryer.

I have 11 different bird feeders and get on average 30 goldfinches, cardinals, robins and a yellow rumped warbler. Just started getting the planting beds going with wildflowers and will be putting in some type of water source, other than a bird bath which I currently have. Love all that you show us. Keep up the inspiration.

Longer the better!

Joel, I'm just wondering whereabouts you live? we are just about to move house to a rural place near Bath, and thinking maybe I should put up a good selection of Bird houses..... Loving your work man. thank you.

Great advice as always. I think you have your videos just right Joel. I really enjoy them all, but I'm fascinated by learning all I can about wildlife gardening. The interviews being longer works as there's so much to discuss. I feel you have them just right as a mix. The sparrowhawk is still visiting my garden, it's stunning and we've managed to photograph it. We've witnessed it predating a sparrow and a starling. I have a robin nesting in ivy climbing my fence, a robin nesting in the ivy in my neighbour's pear tree and a wren has used a tit box but I think the female wasn't so impressed it looks like one of the ones rejected as wrens can do. We had a successful wren nest in a robin box last year. Lots of activity in the garden considering how awful the weather is at the moment, its certainly not putting the birds off. Can't wait to see your own garden development ideas. Take care.

There's a relatively small evergreen clematis (Clematis cirrhosa var. purpurascens aka 'Freckles'), which flowers in winter and produces a ton of seed heads come the spring. Starlings and sparrows are especially keen on it for nesting material.

Thanks for the video Joel, I’ve started doing this ready for spring as it’s a fun little task to get done!

Brilliant information as usual joel thanks so much for sharing 🐸💚🐸

I have house sparrows in my nest boxes, and starlings demolish the fat balls in no time 😅there's a village near me which has starlings murmurations at around 5pm, people stop to video them, as it's spectacular, mind you the houses and cars are white 😅 I've got a blue tit box up, but I don't seem to get many in the garden anymore,and I never see house Martin's around either 😢

Very good video.Very interesting and informative and I like your style,nice bloke.Thankyou.

Hey Joel! Reckon you'll have to live to be at least 200 to get through you're to do list! Great video tonight, loads of info which no doubt we are all grateful for. Lovely to see your furry friend bet he's had the best life an no doubt still being spoiled by the family. Noticed a lot more birds in the garden since putting in the pond and getting some wild plants in. The finches have loved the teasel seeds throughout the winter. I don't really mind how long the videos. I often watch in two halves if they're long ones or I'm busy. Nice to go back and watch an old video if there's some info I want when planning to do something in the garden. Hope you had a great weekend! Best wishes.

Eagerly waiting for the update on your garden - front and back! 😚 For me, videos around 20 minutes are best, it’s the longest I ever get to sit down 😂

I live in Australia & a lot of our birds are nectar feeders so we grow native & some exotic plants that are rich in nectar & larger seed producing plants like banksia for the parrots & cockatoos.

Wonderful video, as always.

Hi Joel Only just found your channel but love it! Any chance you could do a video asap about where and how to site nest boxes? Thanks, Mandy

Hi Joel another great information video must amit the Bird's love your bird seed mix & fat balls highly recommended....

Wild Your Garden with Joel Ashton -- So pleased you mentioned the decline in the birds in U.K., (not pleased that it's happening, just info I needed). I'm in Canada and I am horrified at how quiet the skies are. I desperately want to get my own home in the mountains and start helping birds with boxes and seed feeders and water baths on my land. Do say that your dog doesn't show his years. Would you give him a good hug from me?

Je m’abonne

Great vid as always…..always humble, always informative. Keep it simple. Keep it sweet. Well done.

I've just discovered your brilliant video & will definitely be watching more. I have a Bichon Frise so thanks to your great idea I can leave out her hair for the birds nests, she's small but very very hairy. Your dog is absolutely beautiful would never have guessed he's 15, you have him in beautiful condition. 👍 One year we were lucky enough to witness a robin we knew bring her 5 babies up to us on the patio, think she was looking for a babysitter. I'm a bit worried about the safety of a blackbird in my garden he's last year's baby & his parents also live in the garden. He seems to trust us he comes to the back door for food & isn't afraid of us, I assume/hope he's more suspicious around cats etc. Thanks again for your great video & sharing your lovely dog. 👋👍🐕

Really good video. Very sensible, very clear.

Gat advice Joel thanks Joel, and love Siri.

All good and pointers mate. Do you add a layer of woodchips to any of your nest boxes?

I love your videos, from the talks on various flora to the interviews, to the projects and advice, a video is as long as it needs to be, I don’t have an issue with this. Thanks for all the time you put in filming and editing them, much appreciated. Regards Keith

I've just ordered a double bird nest box for house Martins and a more shallow bird bath than I already have.

i have seen people with multiple feeders in their gardens, and to be honest I can't see how this is helping the overall eco system of those areas... birds perform a very important role in keeping things in balance... such as feeding on insects, invertebrates etc. to keep them under control. then there's the fantastic work they do in seed spreading. I only feed the birds in winter and stop during summer and Autumn as there is plenty for them to eat and at the same time they do the above mentioned vital work..... just wondered what peoples thoughts were on this.

Joel, How do you keep wasp nests out of your bird boxes?

Any suggestion for bird feeders that can't be chewed by squirrels? They do such dammage that birds can't access the food. I have tried several types without success. Love your videos. Greetings from Québec (Canada).

Hi Joel. Love your videos. Are you going to do a video on your woodland border and your dog fence. Thanks great work.

20 minutes or there about is the extent of my attention span for most videos. I personally watch many gardening type of videos and so usually cannot afford to spend too much time any one 😁.

Really like these type of videos. Would love to see more of your own garden. In terms of video length it depends what the video is but around 15 minutes is best for me.

What birds where I live really love is live mealworms, fledglings need live food dont they

Great video, I think about the 20 to 30 mins is good. I have started a gardening club here in the west of Ireland and the next one is making bird boxes after being inspired by your other video. So thank you and hopefully I can spread the word too, you deserve a million subscribers

Hopefully and based on 26/3/23 activity, it is looking like we will have Tobin and Blue Tit pair nesting in our garden this year. 🤞🏻

Everyone says not to put the nest boxes too close, but we put up as many as we can. The birds are less fussy than one might think. Often, one box is used, then when that nest fledges, the next box gets used. So, more boxes have been better for us. If nothing else, the nest boxes are decorative.

I've enjoyed all your videos so much. Thank you! I'm very excited to build my wildlife pond as soon as the ground thaws, which is still a few weeks away. I'm in Alberta, Canada and I'm trying to get all my supplies lined up in the meantime. The hardest one right now is the right dirt for the pond bottom. Clay? Play sand? Builder's Sand? Gravel? My searches for "substrate" to buy only yielded tiny bags for aquariums. Thank you!

Hello Joel, On the subject of video length, I would say 30 mins for most subjects, but in the case for the bigger projects such as your garden creations I don't mind 60 mins. For nesting material I go over my mums mossy lawn with a spring tined rake and leave the birds to it, but I also use a fat feeder with wool from rare breed sheep that I purchase. I've spotted our first nest of the year, a robin who has taken over an open fronted nestbox made from woodcrete.

I’ve put up micro bat boxes and a bird box. We have heaps of birds in the garden, but none have used the bird box yet 😢. It is on against a fence with plants all around. Perhaps I should move the box?🇦🇺. Thanks for your videos. Love watching.