RSPB Ultimate seed tray

4.0 out of 5

7

Exactly like previous reviewer Chris, I have found the pigeons have launched a take-over bid by means of the seed tray.
And gIven the price of it, I'm pretty disappointed to have to remove it and not use it. Another good idea bites the dust.

I bought this to attach to the bottom of the seed feeder to catch the bits of seeds the finches, tits and sparrows drop. It fits well and catches quite a lot.
Unfortunately, after using it for a couple of weeks, two problems have emerged.
Firstly the smaller birds seem reluctant now to use the lower perches/ports on the feeder now - perhaps they feel more vulnerable with the tray attached.
Secondly the pigeons have learnt how to use the tray. Whilst it is to narrow for them to comfortably sit on, they balance on the edge of it and flap their wings continuously. This shakes the feeder and all of the other feeders on the same feeding station. The pigeons also squabble over it a lot. Finally the pigeons have also learnt how to stretch upwards to reach into the feeding ports on the feeder to get the seeds directly. While I don't mind the occasional pigeon visit, I counted 8-10 around the feeding station flapping/squabbling in recent days. This has greatly reduced the number of finches, tits and sparrows visiting, so the tray has had to be removed.

This is a great size, as it allows larger birds like blackbirds to use the feeder, but stops wood pigeons having access!
It also does a great job of reducing the mess on the floor, which is great to reduce clearing up and stops the rodents having a free lunch too!

This is excellent, I got a feeder, seed tray, and rain cover in one deliver to use as a set. This new feeder with tray is significantly more popular than the old feeder we had as there is just so much more room for the birds to perch. I’ve adjusted the rain cover height to prevent pigeon raiding and I scatter a few mealworms into the seed tray when I feed to let the smaller birds have a mealworm or two after the mealworm feeder has been decimated by the slightly larger birds, always the first feeder to empty in the day.
I’m thinking of buying a nuts feeder with tray so hoping the screw depth issue mentioned by someone else in a review has been fixed.

These are brilliant!

My old trays were flat (i.e. at the same level as the bottom of the feeder) and had a small raised lip around the outside. When big birds such as pigeons landed on them the tray tipped alarmingly and all its contents went over the ground - not exactly ideal!

This design has more of a trough, which goes much lower than the bottom of the feeder - and, as a consequence, a taller lip around the outside. There is SO much less spillage it's untrue!

Also, the size of these trays (22 cm diameter, from memory) is just spot-on. They're big enough to work effectively, but small enough - if you take the tray off, and then tilt it diagonally - to fit it under the roof of a standard-size bird table, if (say) you want to empty the content of the tray onto the bird table itself.

I bought a couple of these because 2 of my old trays had cracked, but have now decided to replace all my trays with these.

Good quality construction too - and I thought reasonably-priced, by comparison with the other trays on the market.

Work just fine but the plastic screw is the weak spot -- it would be great if we could buy spare screws rather than having to buy a whole new tray when they break.

These trays do as specified. They catch spare seed and give the birds a larger feeding area. My negative point though is they also catch all the bird poo as well so had to clean them every evening! I do have a lot of birds visiting my garden though including around 20 starlings (which I love) so if you just have smaller birds might not be such a problem.