Hi Celeste
Don’t beat yourself up too much! It sounds like a good idea to start with and I know exactly what you mean about all those large birds gobbling up the food in no time and leaving nothing for the smaller ones. Although I do have a bit of a soft spot for the squabbling starlings (who do their fair share of gobbling when they descend en masse) and the rooks and jackdaws. I did warn the wood pigeons, though, that if they brought too many of their friends with them, they wouldn’t be popular!
I have come to the conclusion that probably the best way to support the birds (and the hogs) is to make our gardens more wildlife friendly. I recently stopped using a seed feeder for the birds (partly because of a rat) but find that there seem to be just as many birds in the garden, but more spread out – foraging for food amongst the bushes, from seed heads, etc.
I do still feed the birds a bit, but more randomly and like you, the hogs take priority.
