Favourites blend bird food

3.0 out of 5

58

I am very disappointed with the last lot of favourite bird seed I bought from RSPB as it was mainly dust which I had to throw away, The birds love the seed but not the dust. The price is not cheap. So unless RSPB make sure that they sell good quality seed instead of dust, I will not be buying this expensive dust from them anymore!

I almost feel cheated... The birds like it so much I'll have to buy it again far sooner than I expected! The birds love it.

I've seen some people say the dustiness doesn't work well with mesh feeders, but I've had it in a mesh feeder and it's worked fine. Granted that's during a (fairly wet) summer, so I don't know about for winter.

Although there is an icon to show that this mix is not suitable for gardens with dogs, there is no information on the full ingredients of this mix to indicate why it is unsuitable. The High Energy Nibbles contain a variety of ingredients, one of which is raisins and these ingredients are not listed for this Favourites Blend. I had to go into the product information for the High Energy Nibbles in order to find its ingredients.
This mix was recommended to me in one of your nature reserve shops when enquiring about starting a bird feeding station in my garden. Unfortunately, I was not asked if I had dogs, and was not made aware that this food would be unsuitable. As such, this product has been a complete waste of money. Fortunately, when looking to purchase online, I saw the warning and will no longer be purchasing this product. As the birds love this mix so much, we are now looking at making our own mix using the separate ingredients and using alternatives that are safe for dogs.
It would be good to have a mix containing the Buggy Nibbles, Berry Nibbles, Dried Mealworms, and the Premium Sunflower Hearts as a safe alternative for dog owners whilst maintaining a nutritious and high energy blend.

Sorry, but you need to mention that this is harmful to dogs in your description. It may be loved by birds but that is no good if you have a dog!

I am very disapointed with this bird food. I think that the 12 1/2Kg bag we got was from the very bottom of the hopper. There is so much dust in it that as soon as it rains it turns to a thick slurry and I have had to throw lots of it away after rain fall.

It has only just dawned on me that there is a way to complain or I would have done it before. I hate complaining and much prefer to compliment, but I would expect better from the RSPB.

The birds in our garden LOVE this mix. We have seen feeding: a robin, bluetits, coal tits, great tits, goldfinches, starlings, house sparrows, a nuthatch, wren, dunnocks and the overspill gets gobbled up by blackbirds and a song thrush. We also get a squirrel coming in but we love all little creatures. Thank you RSPB, you've brought our garden to life in the middle of winter and lock down. We haven't been able to visit our local reserve all year, so this means a great deal to us.

I feed this in the ground. The sparrows and the blackbirds only take the suet and dried meal worms. The sunflower heart are left untouched and so I have to throw them away every evening.

Bought 2 sacks in August, having bought similar previously. Although the birds love the product, this latest consignment has too much fine dust, I shall have to pass it through a sieve to prevent seed feeder clogging up.

My birds also love this mix, BUT, recently the last couple of sacks I have purchased are, like other reviewers' comments, clogged up with dust which doesn't allow for free flow of contents. Resulting in my having to take several trips down the garden daily to shake the contents down, as it sticks onto the sides of the feeders, This in itself is not a problem in fine weather, but now that the rains and damp weather have arrived it becomes more of a chore. Please get the suppliers to remedy this sooner rather than later. I don't want to disappoint my feathered friends by not re- ordering this mix again.

We buy this product regularly and are usually really pleased with it but on this occasion it is extremely dusty and as a previous reviewer said just clogs up the feeders. Would usually highly recommend the product but not on this occasion sadly.

We have squirrels so put this mix into a ground feeder cage. A pair of bullfinches discovered it and return throughout the day for a snack. They linger in the garden, using the bird bath, such beautiful birds! Another pair also show up so this appears to be a real treat. Also a favourite with other birds especially coal tits.

This combination of bird food is the most popular of any I've tried, perhaps too popular when it comes to Starlings, which is why I use gardians on a couple of my feeders and use other feed in certain feeders. Starlings tend to go for the suet bits in the feed and chuck the rest on the ground (for the pigeons, unfortuantely!) Of course, the other small ground-feeders do manage to get some. The new 'Favourites' with added mealworm, etc., should be even better.

Too dusty on this occasion kept clogging the feeder, very disappointed.

I am reordering sack today and hoping like Charles - last review - that there is less dust which when it rains causes clogging of feeders no matter which I try.
Birds love it but I am reluctant to keep purchasing unless improves. Agree it is only recently the problem ha occured.

I have been purchasing sacks of this for some time now and the birds definitely enjoy it, however over time 'dust' has become a problem and a considerable percentage is spoiled.
I'm assuming it is a handling problem, each time a sack is dumped on the ground/floor of a vehicle more of the dried mealworms get crushed.
I am going to order once again in the hope the problem is resolved.
The first few sacks I bought were in perfect condition so I know it can be done.

The birds love this mix, a large seed feeder's worth is gone by mid afternoon!

Not much to say...the seeds are gone in no time. They seem to like it :)

The last sack of this I purchased was so full of ‘dust’ (tiny bits of seed etc)that when it was included in the feeder, it became compacted and clogged up the feeder, stopping the flow of seed. Very disappointed in this bag. Birds adore this mix and I have to use a Guardian to stop the starlings stealing it all!
I have just ordered another big sack but if it is the same I won’t be buying again.

Have been buying this for few years but have been very disappointed with the last couple of bags, they have been more powder and dust than seed etc and even the birds have not been keen on it. Won't be buying it again

The birds (& squirrels & hedgehogs) in my garden can't get enough of this. I've to fill all the feeders at least twice a day and put out extra for the hedgehog on an evening. It's attracted a lot of new birds into my garden - saw a juvenile robin this morning on the ground feeder!

We have lots of birds who love this mix as you say the mealworms go first and buggy nibbles. However we find that finches and tits , coal especially, love the sunflower hearts. I would like a higher ratio of mealworms in the mix tho. Our thrushes love this and the blackbirds and starlings.

I am very surprised by the reviews I have read saying that the birds don't eat the sunflowers. In my garden the goldfinches, Siskins sparrows and chaffinch quickly empty the bird feeder. Robins and blackbirds are attracted too.
I would like slightly higher proportions of meal worms and suet.

Although our birds eat everything - even the sunflower seeds which usually end up on the ground - the mix is dusty, so when the rain comes the feeders become clogged and messy.

Great, works brilliant in a squirrel proof feeder, mostly Great and Blue tits using it here although the occasional Gold and Greenfinch use it too. I have this blend out all year, Would be great if RSPB made a clear coded system to ensure quick reference as to whether certain foods are suitable all year around or at certain times of the year only.

We feed the birds on bird tables, in feeders, hanging trays and a ground feeding tray. In all these areas the sunflowers hearts were left except for some that were eaten by the greenfinches on the feeders. Unfortunately we feel that the majority of the money we spent has been left on the ground. As lifelong member I'm really disappointed with this mix.

I have waited a few weeks before writing this review, as I did not want to give a poor review which was unwarranted. I purchased a 12.5kg bag of the 'favourites' mixture and am sorry to say it is mainly - and I really do mean MAINLY - sunflower hearts. The birds in my garden quickly sift through and pick out the tiny bits of suet and mealworms and then the sunflower hearts are left. Day after day I am having to sweep away the sunflower hearts as the birds do not eat them. A very disappointing purchase and I would not recommend this product.

I used to buy this at my local Pet Shop, but they only sell the small bags and they only last a couple of days so I decided to order bigger bags online. The 4kg bag I ordered was great quality, however, when I bought the 5.5kg a lot was just powder to a point where birds couldn't get any seeds through the feeder because the powder was blocking everything up. Disappointing.

I have bought this bird food on a number of occasions over the years.

The last shipment I received contained as noted elsewhere, almost exclusively sunflower hearts.

As if this wasn't bad enough, it seems as if they had been put through a liquidiser as a result of which what I actually got was a load of powder / flour.

Not impressed - at all.

This mix used to be a real treat to feed to the birds but recently the quality has deteriorated and the product quickly reduces to dust. As such it clogs up the feeders and 'balls' on the ground. The birds don't take it. A complete waste of money - very dispappointing RSPB

I used to these three items separately and mix them myself until I saw this, that is. Not only does it save space and money, the birds love it! Will be buying this from now on, thanks RSPB, from both me and my garden birds :)

Have used this for some years now with huge success. Some reviewers have commented upon small percentage of mealworms but, these which I buy separately and add would create a very much more expensive product were RSPB to add more I think. Feeding Favourites Blend with added mealworms alongside the truly superb RSPB suet balls brings me daily constant delight.

Mostly sunflower hearts, which the birds eat as a last resort and a definite lack of mealworms. I've counted about 4 so far, and they look as if they were all the runts of the mealworm litter! Will buy separately in future.

I need to fill up my squirrel-proof seed feeder most days. It attracts great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits,nuthatches and the occasional coal tit.

The fussy great tits throw lots of the feed over their shoulders to get to their favourite sunflower hearts so a lot of mealworms go flying.

The great tit rejects get hovered up by the ground feeders; woodpigeons, robins, blackbirds, stock doves, house sparrows etc. Sometimes the squirrels even get some.

My value for money rating is based on the Homebase price for 1.8kg and RSPB shops and not the garden centre chains.

To the list of birds that enjoy this mix you might to add Ringneck parakeets & Magpies.

I spend over £300 a year feeding garden birds and really ought to find a cheaper source!

RSPB response: Thank you for your review. We are aware there are cheaper bird food alternatives on the market, however our seed range contains the finest, quality ingredients, without the fillers you might find in cheaper bird food. We try to keep our prices low but we do not compromise on quality or bird safety. The majority of our seed and mixes are now grown on farms that are certified as Fair to Nature.

I feed this Favourites Blend to the birds on my back garden's shed roof. Recently the first in for a feast are the doves, then pigeons and finally everyone else, especially and more recently, two robins that nest nearby. I don't put it out daily as this is way too expensive, but do it as a treat. All the mixture gets eaten and no mess is left at all.

I have other feeders in my back garden that provide suet and two feeders containing No-mess Sunflower mix.

Never get a mess at all. Maybe it's the area I live in?

This is a great mix for the type of birds we get in our inner-city garden. The robins love the mealworms, the tits love the suet and the goldfinches, chaffinches and parakeets clear the sunflower seeds. Everyone gets a meal!

Very popular with the birds. However despite being stored in sack in metal container, and well within expiry date, the nibbles turned to dust. Will not be ordering again

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, I am extremely sorry to hear about the nibbles. Please can you contact customer services with a batch number and provide a sample if possible so we can look into this, as this should not happen under any circumstances.

I am just about to buy my second sack of Favourites Blend, as the first one was such a success. I get many more small birds to the various feeders than I used to, and they are sometimes queueing up for this blend. The pigeons used to eat it all very quickly, but I have now devised a way of preventing them from accessing it, so the little birds have free access. A great success!

The birds love the meal worms and the suet nibbles but every day I am left with a large amount of uneaten sunflower seeds , which if I dont clear up, turn into a smelly festering mess.I would estimate a quatre of all food put out, is wasted. This is proving to be a very expensive way of feeding the birds and there doesnt appear to be an RSPB suitable alternative.

Several people have said the birds pick out the seeds to get to the nibbles and mealworms and I agree with them. The seeds are hovered up but other ground-feeding birds though. I will continue to buy this product as part of a varied smorgasbord.

As others have found, the ground under the bird feeders is scattered with sunflower seeds, however the squirrels and blackbirds have a go at them. I suppose the mealworms and suet are the treats - like the grapes in the fruit bowl! I'm persevering but it is an expensive way of feeding!

I must admit we cannot be all wrong the ground below both my bird feeders is littered with sunflower hearts the birds just pick them out of bird feeder to get to other seeds. and even the pigeons are being fussy and not picking them up

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, I am sorry that you are unhappy with this mix. I have looked through the reviews for this product and we have had many positive ones where birds have been enjoying the sunflower hearts. It may be that your birds prefer the mealworms and sprinkles, and will therefore take longer to eat the sunflower hearts.

Like a few other reviews here, our birds don't seem to like the sunflower hearts - except for the pigeons of course, who will eat anything/everything they can get at. All the birds love the suet nibbles and mealworms which disappear very quickly after the food goes out but leave large piles of the sunflower hearts. Won't buy again.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, I am sorry that you are not happy with our favourites mix. It is surprising that your birds are leaving the sunflower hearts as these are proven to be very popular with birds. It may be that they choose to eat the suet and mealworms first and therefore will take longer to eat the sunflower hearts.

Truly is a favourite blend in our garden; this is quickly devoured by blue tits, great tits, starlings, and even jackdaws and collared doves try to balance on the feeder to get it! Highly recommended.

This mix is fab. It contains everything the birds love. A good mix.

The birds in Norfolk love this food, we refill the feeders more with this than any other food. The seed that falls from the feeders is quickly eaten by the ground feeding birds, and sometimes by our chickens.

Great product, both for feeders and as ground food. Our birds love every bit of it. The only problem is keeping up with their demand because if they had their way I'd be out refilling every 2 or 3 hours!

The sunflower seeds were very popular but none of the birds liked the high energy sprinkles and once it had got wet it left a nasty pink sludge on the patio! This was disappointing as it is one of the most expensive seed mixes.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review, we are sorry to hear that you are disappointed by this mix. It is very unusual that birds don't eat the suet sprinkles as this is a very popular ingredient and has been tested to great response.

I bought this as something different for the birds in my garden, and maybe to attract something different as many seemed to pass by. Almost immediately it went out, the previously shy Goldfinches were in the garden and scoffing away! This then also got them eating the niger seed they had previously not been interested in, so I was doubly pleased!
So popular with the birds I will be ordering more!

I bought this bird food because the birds were messy eaters with the food i had been giving them and i wanted to try RSPB food to see the difference.

The difference is no mess and very happy birds!!! This food is more expensive, but it makes sense to have happier birds and no waste.

At first i hesitated due to the cost of the feed, but decided to give it a try with a 4KG bag, which went down very well with my regular feathered friends and also now have new species of birds stopping by for a feed.

I will be buying this product from now on without any hesitation.

I am surprised as well at the negative review as this is definitely the favourite of all the birds that visit my garden (as well as the furry ones!). I have all the birds mentioned Blue Tits, Great Tits, Black Birds, Collard Doves, Robins, Jackdaws, Green Finch, Gold Finch, Dunnocks, pigeons, and even a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

I use this alone in the squirrel-deterent feeder, mixed with a little of the black sunflower seed to keep the seed flowing. In another, I put half and half and another, I use a guardian for the feeder with only the Favourites Blend as it it too popular with the squirrels.

I bought this mix as a last resort when the local shop ran out of sunflower seed. The birds then shunned the 'old' mix in favour of the new. Every morning at breakfast I watch at least 8 of goldfinch, robin, greenfinch, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, bullfinch, nuthatch, pigeon, wood pigeon, magpie, dunnock, wren, the occasional rarer bird and even a sparrow hawk feeding a few metres away. I live in the centre of Birmingham as well.

I'm so surprised at the negative reviews for this product. For me, it's the best I've tried. The birds love it and there's no waste. I have blackbirds, robins, sparrows, dunnocks, and tits. The wood pigeons, collard doves and magpies also love it, but I mainly like to feed the song birds.

From the name, description and reviews of this product, I thought I couldn't go wrong with this mix. However the birds in my garden are not impressed and I was left sweeping up loads of uneaten sunflower seeds. The collared doves eat some of them, but there are way too many so I will have to throw away about 12 kilos of the stuff. - a terrible waste of money and food. Apart from collared doves, my regular visitors are sparrows, robins, pied wagtails, blue tits, jackdaws and magpies.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review. Sunflower hearts remain the most popular garden bird seed and evidence has frequently showed that these are preferred above other seeds by the majority of garden birds, including those mentioned. This is a mix of favourite ingredients and this is reflected by the ratio of ingredients in the mix.

I use this as a base for my own mix of seed, adding in other suet pellets, kibbled nuts and black sunflower seeds in the quantities I know the birds that visit my garden like. Works a treat. I usually have to top up the trays in the feeder station and bird table twice a day - three times when the weather is cold. With this you get the added bonus of some dried mealworms (which I personally think are too expensive to buy on their own). Even the blackbirds and thrush go onto the bird table for this as very little ends up on the ground and what does, soon gets eaten. Will definitely buy again.

I got this as an alternative to no mess sunflower mix and fed it in the usual way by putting it in all my feeders. Although the birds really enjoyed it I found that there was a lot more dust than the no mess sunflower mix (possibly from the suet nibbles in the mixture) which clogged the feeders up and made them harder to clean. Though I wouldn't recommend for putting into your feeders it's still a great product if you want to put it on a bird table or on the ground as birds still enjoyed it.

We literally had this on our table for no more then a hour, we then had to go top up ! Even our first Robbin of the year found us and has been back every night since for some more,

Bought this as change to my normal order of premium ground mix and was very disappointed on opening the 12.75kg bag. The pictures online indicate a balanced mix. The bag received appeared to be more than 95% sunflower hearts with a few percent suet nibbles and a very, very low percentage of mealworms (by volume). I won't be ordering this again. It will be easier and probably cheaper to make up my own mix that matches the pictures.

RSPB response: Thank you for your review. This bird food is predominantly sunflower hearts, although not the percentage suggested here. As hearts are the favourite bird food of most garden birds, as well as one of the best nutritionally, the mix is mainly made from these, however there is a large proportion of suet nibbles and as suggested a smaller percentage of mealworms. This mix is made up based on the birds nutritional needs and their feeding habits.