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NEWSLETTER-AUGUST 2010
ITS NEARLY THE NEW SEASON….
Not just the football season, the bird feeding season too. Bird food suppliers bring out new brochures now so it’s a busy time for me sifting through them all looking for new products and price changes. Suet products and fat balls are all going up but most other items are staying about the same. Robin seed will now come in a 4kg bag instead of the 6.8kg box. Blue Tit seed is now in a 2kg bag and peanut bites are only available in a 1kg bag. New products include a hanging water dispenser, an apple feeder and an aluminium seed scoop. I haven’t had all the brochures in yet and because of printing costs, won’t automatically send out a new price list to everyone. If you would like to have an up to date price list please ask me when I next deliver. The website will be regularly updated. The recent Budget has put the VAT rate up from January which will result in price rises on many items.
.jpg) NEW PRODUCT RANGES
I spoke about the need to diversify in the last newsletter and had several suggestions about possible new products that I could offer. Thanks to everyone that took the trouble to contact me with ideas. One was for me to deliver bags of compost or grow bags but I couldn’t locate a cheap enough supplier. However I have found a specialist supplier of a similar range of products that might interest the gardeners amongst you. Black Gold is a soil improver. It is basically a fertiliser made from worm casts that you add to soil or compost. It has been shown to enhance plant growth. It is both natural and organic and is available in a 500g tube for £4.99 or 10kg bag for £19.99. They also sell wormery composters plus one for dog poo!
Another company that I’ve contacted sell Diatoms. These are tiny crushed shells that are thousands of years old. They have been found to have a number of uses. The larger grade ones can be used as slug pellets. They will kill Slugs, Snails and other garden pests. The finer grade Diatoms can be used to kill Ticks, fleas and Mites and can be used on your Dogs, Cats, Chickens, Cage Birds and even Horses. Again these products are totally organic. Ask me for further details.
I now have a stock of Dog chews and treats such as Bakers allsorts, Pedigree jumbones, Rasks, Dentastix, Markies and Bonio. I’m not keeping Dog food in stock but will get them in to order.
As mentioned previously I now also stock a range of scented candles. They make lovely gifts, or for your own use and are better value than Yankee Candle or Colony brands. If you want to see any of them let me know and I’ll bring them along with your next order.
Ideally I want to specialise in garden Bird products but will always look to add other items if they are what customers want. I have been careful to choose items that I can get in small quantities or from existing suppliers rather than invest a lot of money in stock that might not be popular. As I said before, diversification is the key to survival for many companies today. The trick is to find the right products.
Please ask me if you want a price list for any of the new ranges mentioned. I'm trying to keep the website updated with new products and prices.
    A GOOD NESTING SEASON?
The word from my customers seems to suggest many of our birds have enjoyed a successful breeding season. Lots of you have reported large numbers of baby birds feeding in your gardens. House Sparrows using one of my camera nest boxes have had a particularly good time and have had three broods so far. They could feasibly continue nesting right through to October/November which will boost their numbers after several difficult summers and the harsh winter weather.
When you are certain the birds have stopped using your nest boxes, it’s a good idea to give them a quick clean out by removing the old nest and give it a spray with a weak disinfectant/water mix. This should clear all the bugs and germs away ready for them to use next spring, or even over winter for roosting.
PALLETS
I get most of my stock deliveries on pallets. Wherever possible I try to get the delivery drivers to take the empty pallets away but usually end up with a few each month that I have to take to the tip. If anyone would like some please let me know. They can be quite useful in the garden, or even for burning. Free of charge of course and I can often deliver.
CAMERA NEST BOXES
I will shortly start building my next batch of camera nest boxes. They have proved very popular over the past few years, particularly in the pre Xmas period. Up until now I have bought my stock of cameras from a UK importer. Unfortunately there were several quality problems last year and I had to replace about a dozen cameras for various reasons. Therefore I’ve decided to use a different company. I’m now getting the cameras from a British security camera specialist. The cameras are of a better quality and offer a wider angle of view meaning you see more inside the box. This company offer a 2 year guarantee on their cameras. Naturally they are more expensive than the ones that I’ve previously bought but I think the improved quality justifies the extra cost. I’m expecting Cam boxes will now sell for between £60- £65(to be confirmed). I have also enquired about a new higher resolution camera which should offer brighter clearer and more colourful images. I've ordered one to test and will report back later.
SEED STORAGE PROBLEMS
Most sacks of bird seed should last about a year if stored correctly. This means keeping it cool and dry and in a sealed container to keep insects and rodents out. If stored in a warm place the seed can “sweat” creating dampness and this will mean it will deteriorate much faster. Insects such as grain moths can get to the seed and feed on it if it’s not stored in a sealed container. These situations can cause the seed to become excessively dusty and if you find yours has gone that way it’s usually best to throw it out and clean your storage container. Ideally you should only buy enough seed to last two or three months. I will now split the larger sacks into two halves and charge at the full sack rate so if you would prefer to order less quantity to ease storage, you won’t be paying the premium price for it. This only applies on sacks of 20kg or more.
If needed, I sell metal storage bins that hold up to 15kg.
 PRICE COMPARISON
I regularly visit garden centres, usually for a coffee break whilst I’m out delivering, and always take the opportunity to check their seed prices. It still puzzles me why customers there are happy to pay up to £4.99 per kg for Sunflower hearts, for example, when I’m doing the same for just £1.80. The only difference being the glossy bag! Garden centres have much greater spending power than I do as well as the space to store and display products yet they still mainly sell everything at the full suggested retail price.
Mail order companies also charge top prices. This is because they include delivery charges. A typical sack of Hearts can cost £40 or £50, compared to my £32. And delivery from Nutbags is always free.
A PLEA……..
On a recent visit to a Garden Centre I bumped into a Nutbags customer who was loading his car with his purchases, including several bird food items. He apologised for not ordering from me, stating that he’d only gone there for some plants and that he didn’t want to make me drive all the way to him for such a small order!
Impulse buying is probably the biggest threat to a small business like mine. It’s hard to resist sometimes when you see things in a shop, even if you know you can get it cheaper elsewhere (£3.20 in this example, from me!). The idea of getting something now while you think of it, rather than tomorrow is appealing and we’ve all done it!
Now, I would never demand or expect my customers to only ever buy everything from me, but please remember my business is about delivering bird food. That’s what I’m here for and it’s no trouble to me. I’d rather have your small order than no order!
AND FINALLY…..
Some people have asked me where all the birds have gone. There could be several explanations for their apparent disappearance. When the weather is hot they can become lethargic (like us) so tend to stay in the shade to keep cool. Natural foods such as seeds, berries, nuts and caterpillars should be more abundant now so there is less dependence on us. Also many birds are now moulting. Because they are less able to avoid predators in this state, they keep out of sight until their feathers have re grown. This lull in feeder activity will be brief; in fact you might not even notice it at all. Soon the birds will be feasting on all the food they can find to put on weight in preparation for migration and the colder months ahead.
Nutbags passed another milestone recently when total sales went over the £200,000 mark. Thanks for everyone’s contribution over the past 5 or 6 years.
Many people don't like leaving messages on answerphones. If you want to contact us but don't want to leave a message please phone or text my mobile number below. I'll return your call as soon as safe to do so as i'm usually driving!
Next Main newsletter in November but look out for a "mini" one mid September when I should have had all the new season brochures in.
Enjoy your birdlife.
Paul & Christine
APRIL/MAY 2010 NEWSLETTER IMPORTANT DIARY DATES We will shortly be going on our annual holidays. We are away from Sunday May 23rd and return home on Tuesday 8th June. Please make sure you stock up with feed before we go as this can be a very busy time of year in the garden. Most birds are nesting now so there will be many extra mouths to feed in the coming weeks. Our son David has offered to cover any emergency deliveries in our absence but as he also has to work, his time is limited. SPRING ………AT LAST I’ve just been for a walk at Lepe Country Park . It was pleasantly warm and sunny, there were numerous Chiffchaffs, Robins and Blackcaps singing, and a couple of Brimstone and Orange Tip Butterflies flew past. It’s nice to finally see spring arrive and it’s easy to forget how cold the past winter actually was. Wildlife experts are warning that many species of birds and mammals suffered massive losses due to the severe cold in January. Numbers of our favourite garden visitors are bound to be lower now than for many years and we must hope that the weather over the next few months is kind to allow a good breeding season to try and help populations recover. As always the help we provide now is vital to the survival of many species. By providing safe nesting areas, plentiful food and water we can give them the best chance to build their numbers back up. Yet many people stop feeding the birds as summer arrives, thinking that there is plenty of food around for them. The RSPB and other groups now recommend year round feeding. At times insects can be hard to find, especially in poor weather, but if we regularly offer a mix of foods we can be sure we are doing all we can to help the birds in our garden. LOOK AFTER YOUR INSECTS! On the subject of insects, I am introducing a range of insect habitats that will help you attract beneficial insects. Bees are important for plant pollination as well as honey production, so there is an interactive Bumble Bee nest box and a Solitary bee nester. Ladybirds will eat greenfly and other garden pests, so there is now a ladybird tower to provide a safe haven for them. There is a Butterfly and Moth Habitat as well as a Butterfly nectar feeder which they can feed from. I am re introducing the bat detector. It’s a battery operated device that allows you to hear the high frequency calls that Bats make.
WEBSITE & PAYPAL Some of you have reported problems logging in to my website. Because it makes it easier for me to send out my newsletters through the website, I spent many hours entering all your email addresses onto the database. I hadn’t realised that when customers tried to register they would be told their email address was already in use! If you have problems logging in please phone or Email me and I’ll reset it for you. There has still been a lot of confusion over the Paypal fee which showed up as “shipping”, so I’ve made the decision to remove the charge. So if you choose to pay via credit card, there is no longer an additional charge. You will need to have, or open a Paypal account though. I’ve managed to get a few extra feeders at special low prices. Look out for them on the Sale page on the website.
WEBCAMS A couple of months ago I discovered a website, called Ustream.tv which features live video webcams from around the world. There are countless different ones to look at that include bird feeding stations and nest boxes. There is even one overlooking a watering hole in the African jungle where I’ve seen Elephants and Lions. The one that first caught our attention was a hummingbird nest in California . “Phoebe” as the female hummer was named, laid two eggs in a nest the size of a golf ball. We watched her incubating the eggs and bravely fighting off a hungry lizard but sadly neither egg hatched. She then laid two more eggs in another nest only for a crow to eat them both within hours! It was a sad outcome but of course it is Nature. We found it to be great entertainment though and recommend you to take a look if you are online. It’s much better than TV! I’m currently watching Barn Owl, Bluebird, Cardinal, Osprey and Bald Eagle nests as well as several feeders. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/Hummingbird-Nest-Cam The RSPB Goshawk webcam is back on again, http://www.rspb.org.uk/webcams/birdsofprey/newforest.asp ,and in my own garden I have nesting House Sparrows in one of my Camera boxes, sitting on 5 eggs. BUSINESS UPDATE Now that we have come to the end of another trading year it is a good time to report on the state of the business. Turnover was up by about 30% this past 12 months which is very pleasing and customer numbers are well over 700. Having finalised my accounts, I wish there had been a bit more money left for me, which is a bit of a worry but I’m not panicking just yet! There were quite a few major expenses last year, such as the printing of new brochures and leaflets, advertising and rocketing petrol prices. Obviously I need to make an income from Nutbags and have highlighted several ways that I must cut my costs. I don’t plan to increase prices other than those passed from my suppliers and feel it’s important that I continue to offer the discounts that I do, so the only way that I can see to ease the situation is to gain more customers. I’m working hard to that effect and your help is gratefully appreciated. DIVERSIFICATION Many companies diversify and offer products or services that they didn’t previously do and this is an area that I too need to exploit. I already offer a number of Dog food products and my website features a Gardening range. I have a trade account with Sigma who make photographic lenses and it’s my aim to offer these items at below normal high street prices. In June I will add a new range of scented candles. These are very popular in garden centres and shops and make great gifts. I’ll be offering candles, Tea lights and Jars in a variety of fruity flavours and they will be considerably cheaper than Colony and Yankee Candle brands. I’m also looking to sell more items on EBay and am hoping to add other product ranges where appropriate. Any suggestions? VAT If Sales growth continues at its current rate, I will have to register for VAT in a few months. I hope this won’t have too much impact as I can offset the tax by claiming back the VAT that I have to pay for stock and fuel etc. If you currently buy your seed and nuts by the sack, i.e. 12.75kg or more then they are vat free, but smaller quantities are chargeable. Accessories, mealworms and suet products also attract vat. It is my intention to make sure my prices remain under those charged by garden centres and mail order. AND FINALLY….. I recently had a trade stand at the Hampshire Ornithologists Society (HOS) open day. It was lovely to see so many customers there, and thanks to those who came up and said hello. I have a couple of other trade fairs coming up in May. On the 8th I’m in Romsey at the Green fair in the Crossfield hall, and then on the 15th it’s the Milford on Sea garden club fair on the village green. I try to have a selection of items available to view as well as a number of special offers, so if you are in the area come along and grab a bargain. I’ll apologise in advance if I don’t remember your name. I usually recognise my customers but don’t always know who they are! There will be a lot of activity in your gardens over the next few months. We hope for a successful breeding season bringing lots of baby birds. Lets do all we can to give them a helping hand. I'll send out another quick reminder email about my holiday dates in mid May. Enjoy your birdlife. Paul & Christine www.nutbags.co.uk Tel: 02380-894132 Mob: 07952-393183 Email: pjm82@btinternet.com
NEWSLETTER-FEBRUARY 2010 WINTER WONDERLAND! We are only halfway through this winter season, but already it has gone down as one of the coldest and snowiest for many years. This made deliveries quite difficult for me at times. Whilst the main roads were mainly kept clear, the back streets, where most customers typically live, were not. This made getting to some homes a bit tricky, and took a lot longer. Having parked outside one customer’s house on quite a steep hill, I then found I needed to reverse out to avoid a parked car in front of me. For several minutes I tried unsuccessfully to move off the ice, before I had to sacrifice two or three kilos of bird seed under my wheels to get some traction. Having got myself out of the parking space I then had to negotiate the rest of the hill which the local kids had been busy “polishing” with their sledges. Somehow I got down the hill, sideways at times, narrowly missing parked cars, to reach the main road. That was probably my worst experience of the snowy weather and the moral of the story is…..keep a sack of bird seed in your boot to aid traction! (telephone now to order before the next snowfall!) Luckily I had stocked up with most products just before the worst of the weather so I was able to keep going with deliveries as normal. Many of my suppliers from other parts of the country closed down for up to a fortnight in early January so I would have had problems had I needed more stock. The cold weather created a huge demand for food from our garden birds too, and many of you have reported seeing a number of very unusual birds feeding. Winter Thrushes including Redwing and Fieldfare were commonplace, feeding on berries or fruit, and other unusual birds seen included Water Rail, Moorhen, Pheasant, Heron, Bullfinch, Skylark and Yellowhammer. Sadly though, whilst it’s nice for us to see some of these rarer birds in our gardens, many thousands of small birds will have died because of the cold, or starvation. Typically, birds will lose up to 20% of their body weight each night just trying to stay warm so they need to find lots of food to make up for it. When the ground is frozen or covered in a layer of snow it becomes very difficult for them to find sufficient food. This is where we can help. By putting out fresh supplies of different foods daily, we can give our birds a fighting chance of survival. As well as all the usual seeds, peanuts and suet products, a cut up Apple or a handful of Raisins/Sultanas will be appreciated. Also don’t forget that birds need to drink and Bathe so a source of water is also needed. It needs replacing regularly to stop it getting dirty or freezing. SPRING IS COMING Whilst winter still has a long way to go, the signs of spring are beginning to appear. Crocuses and Snowdrops are starting to flower, and Daffodils and other bulbs are also growing. When we get a sunny day you can hear the difference in the garden. Birds are singing, and forming territories, and some are pairing up. Their thoughts are turning to the breeding season ahead and they’ll be investigating all your nest boxes to find the one that they’ll eventually use. Blackbirds are generally one of the first birds to start nesting and it’s not uncommon to find them sitting on eggs by the end of February or early March. It’s still not too late to put up a nest box in your garden though the sooner you do it the better. Blue Tits usually start nest building in April but like most birds they are wary of anything new. This is why it’s best to give them as long as possible to get used to seeing the box. I now have quite a wide range of different Nest boxes available, starting with Economy Blue Tit boxes for just £4.25 I also now have a range of silver birch boxes for a more natural look at £6.99 as well as long life “woodcrete” boxes that come with a 25 year guarantee. I have terrace boxes for House Sparrows, Blackbird and Wren boxes and can get others for Owls, Starlings, Tree creepers, House Martins and Swallows. I can also turn most of them into a camera nest box for you too. I’m also selling natural wool packs which birds will use as nesting material, and have hole protector plates to stop predators getting into nest boxes. THE NEW WEBSITE……AT LAST! The New Nutbags website went live in December. I’m still tweaking bits of it but basically it now seems to be working. If you haven’t already looked at it I invite you to do so, and welcome any comments/feedback. To make orders straight from the site you will need to register and select your own password, and at the bottom of the home page you can enter your email address to receive future newsletters electronically rather than by post. I know I’ve asked many times but if you are reading this on paper and have an email address, please enter yours for me. Newsletters are one of my biggest business expenses, costing up to £200 four times per year. I don’t share my email addresses so you shouldn’t get any spam. The website takes the form of a shopping cart. You can look through the categories in the index to choose the products you want to buy. You can then opt to pay by cash or cheque on delivery or use a credit/debit card via Paypal. As has always been the policy, Paypal payments incur a fee of 3.4% plus 20p per transaction. This will be added to the invoice but it appears as “delivery”. It’s not proved possible to change the wording on the invoice, but I can confirm that I do not charge a delivery fee and if you choose to pay on delivery of the goods, the Paypal fee will not apply. The beauty of having a shopping cart site like this is that I can add a limitless number of new products for you to look at. For example I can now offer more styles of Nest Box and feeder, and am introducing a range of insect habitats and multi media gifts. Not all of these items will be kept in stock but I can get them quite quickly when ordered. PRICING POLICY Someone recently told me about a farm shop somewhere in the area that was selling “cheap” bird foods. Whilst I was delivering nearby one day, I called in to take a look for myself. What I found was that some prices were competitive but the range was very limited and the quality was debatable. The seed and peanuts were not in my opinion as good as my economy range and their sunflower hearts were very small and probably only pet grade. I sell bakery grade as standard. While I wouldn’t say there was anything wrong with those foods it’s probably a timely moment to re state my policy on pricing. It has always been my intention to provide cheaper foods than Garden centres and Mail order companies. (I can do this because I buy from the same suppliers and then sell on at less than the recommended retail price.) It has always been my intention to offer free delivery. I believe that even though there may be some outlets offering cheaper prices on some items, when you take into account product quality, my free delivery service and the chance to earn 10% discounts through my various schemes, Nutbags prices are amongst the best. SALES PERFORMANCE Nutbags continues to thrive during the recession, as monthly sales continue to grow. December saw record monthly orders and January wasn’t far behind it. The total weight of seed delivered was around 4 tonnes each month which is about 200 sacks of seed. We are not far from finding our 700th customer. Whilst sales have slowed a little bit since the weather turned milder we are coming into a traditionally busy time of the year, as birds start nesting and look for extra food to feed their young, so things are looking good. Seed prices had been starting to fall until the cold weather brought extra demand creating shortages from my suppliers who then raised their prices. I’m confident that things will settle down soon and see wholesale prices coming down again. As always, when these prices drop I’ll amend my prices to you accordingly. AND FINALLY….. Spring is always an exciting season. We can look forward to better weather, lighter evenings, cheery bird song, garden flowers, returning summer birds and hedgehogs. It’s a season of new life and hope. Keep putting out the food and the birds will come. In return they will help keep the numbers of slugs snails and caterpillars down which is good news for the gardeners amongst you. Next newsletter in early May. Enjoy your birdlife. Paul & Christine
NEWSLETTER-NOVEMBER 2009
Firstly I would like to say thanks for all the good luck messages that I received after announcing in the last newsletter that I had taken redundancy in my other job. It is greatly appreciated. The first two months of my “new” career have seemed a bit slow but in fact sales have been up by about 20% on this time last year and I’ve gained over 30 new customers, so I guess its going ok! We now total 620 customers.
MORE NEW PRODUCTS.
I can now offer a metal seed storage bin which has a locking lid so should be vermin proof. It will hold approximately 15kg of seed. Garden centre price is £14.99, my price £14.50
I also have ceramic hanging bird baths for £4.99 .These will also fit the holder on the feeding stations as the plastic ones provided break easily!
I have two new squirrel proof items. The “squirrel slinky” fits onto garden poles and feeding station poles and is basically a steel spring with a sleeve over it. As the squirrel tries to climb the pole the spring extends and drops him back to the floor,(£11.95) and the “Squirrel buster” seed feeder closes its seed ports when it senses the squirrels weight. It is guaranteed for 2 years and is £29.95
I’ve just ordered more of the plastic goldfinch feeders and now also stock the “Droll Yankee” metal version (£14.95), with seed trays to fit (£5.95). If you have a feeder on a garden pole you may have noticed the connector plugs tend to break after a few years. I can now get replacements in plastic or metal. I also have window stickers to stop the birds flying into them, with butterfly or leaf design.
25Kg sacks of Niger are going down £5 to £30 and I’m hoping to reduce the price of Sunflower Hearts yet again very soon. See the website for updates.
Don’t forget VAT goes back up in January so prices may rise as a result.
SAFFLOWER SEED
On my last holiday in America I picked up a brochure from a bird food supplier there. They recommended Safflower as a bird feed. It looks like small sunflower hearts but is related to thistle. I’m trying it in my garden and have seen Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Greenfinch and House Sparrow feeding on it. They seem to prefer the Sunflower hearts, but when that feeder empties they have no problem going onto the safflower feeder. According to the brochure squirrels don’t like safflower seeds so it’s good to use if they are a problem. It’s also a bit cheaper than hearts!
I’m not planning to stock it routinely but can always get it if required. If you would like to try a sample with your next order, let me know.
PRODUCT QUALITY
Every now and again there is a quality problem with one or other product. Back in the summer I found a few tubs of suet treats in my delivery that had mould growing on them. I immediately contacted the supplier who admitted that they had had a few production problems. This resulted in the recipe being changed which then affected the quality of some suet products. A few weeks ago I rejected a delivery of peanuts because they looked to be poor quality. (I will add that they were still certified aflotoxin free so were healthy, they just didn’t look good). The fact is that these things happen, regardless of where you buy them; occasionally you might get something that’s not up to standard, but luckily these incidents are rare. I always practice stock rotation when I get new supplies so shouldn’t have any “overly” old stock. I have also now got two fridges in my garage to store suet products in. This will help a lot next summer when some of these items go very soft with the heat!
If you ever receive anything from me that you are not happy with, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know. I will happily replace items that don’t meet the standards I expect. I would much rather have to do this than risk losing your custom. My suppliers will always credit me if anything is damaged or poor quality so it doesn’t cost me anything other than a bit of fuel and time.
WHICH SEED IS BEST?
I’m often asked which seed mix I recommend. This is a difficult question to answer as I’m told that the birds in one garden don’t always “like” the same food provided in another! There are a number of things to consider when choosing a seed mix, such as the price, seed content and quality, and the type of birds you want to attract. Economy mixed seeds are cheap but contain a lot of wheat and other small seeds which many birds throw on the floor in order to get the seeds they prefer. So whilst they might be low cost are they such good value if much of it is discarded? They also tend to be more attractive to pigeons.
“My” feeder supreme mix is better in that it has more sunflower and other seeds, but still contains a fair amount of wheat.
If you want a better mix than these, the CJ Wild bird food range should have something to suit.
“Feeder seed” is a mix of Black and striped Sunflowers with millet, kibbled peanuts and oatmeal. The “Hi-energy seed” is similar but adds sunflower hearts, and the “Hi energy no mess” uses hearts instead of black sunflower. Whilst the price of these products goes up you should in theory have less mess and wastage. There is also a “Table seed” for bird tables and ground feeding, and the “all season mix” which is a wheat free table seed.
For the Blackbirds and Robins I offer a ground bird & table mix which is a mix of seeds and flakes with added fruit and berries. CJ’s Hi energy ground blend is very good and contains a lot of fruit. Robin seed is a high energy blend with added mealworms. I’m trialling a new brand of Robin seed which if ok will be much cheaper. If you want to see a sample of any blend please ask.
I will add that whilst it may seem that I’m trying to guide customers towards the dearer seed mixes, this is because of quality only. My profit margins are roughly the same on all the mixes.
AUTUMN THINGS TO DO
Now is the ideal time to clean out your nest boxes or to put up new ones. Ticks and Fleas can live in old nesting material so it’s a good idea to open up the box and throw the old nest out. Birds will always build a new nest on top of old bedding anyway. Many birds will start looking at your boxes around now with a view to nesting in the spring or as a roost site during the winter.
There is a large range of nest boxes commercially available and I can get most of them for you at discount so just let me know what you need.
I have heard that a few people have seen poorly looking Greenfinches at their feeders. There is a virus called Tricomoniasis which particularly affects finches. It is passed on by infected birds using feeders and perches, so it is very important to keep your feeders and bird tables clean. I try to clean my feeders once a month. A very weak disinfectant/water mixture should do the trick.
ITS CHRISTMAS……WELL NEARLY
It’s that time of year again, so if you are struggling to think of Christmas gift ideas how about some of the following:
Camera nest box. Complete colour camera kit ready to plug in £55
Feeding station, now includes 2 feeders £19.50
Gift Tokens. Choose any value to be used against all products.
Fill a box. Choose an amount and I’ll include a selection of foods, treats and feeders. Delivery will be just before Xmas, to allow for freshest products.
I can also get a range of books and DVDs (bird and wildlife related).Ask for details.
I will be delivering up until 24th December and then closed until Tuesday 29th.
AND FINALLY…..
The new website is now under construction, hopefully live very soon.
I’m looking at introducing dog foods and garden products, and enclosed are two price lists. I am not stocking these items yet so they are “to order” only until I find out what stock levels will be required. Because of the very low profit margins on these items, my normal collection/referral discounts will not apply to these ranges. Next newsletter due in mid February but expect an email only version January sale.
Enjoy your birdlife, have a good Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.
Paul & Christine
NEWSLETTER-SEPTEMBER 2009
A BIG CHANGE IN MY LIFE!…….
As many of you will know I have operated “Nutbags” on a part time basis. I have also worked full time elsewhere. Recently though, I was offered the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy. It was a very difficult decision for me to make as I had been there over 19 years and enjoyed a relatively good income along with the security of sick pay, holiday pay and pension etc, but after much deliberation I decided to take it. This means I can now put all my time and effort into making “Nutbags” a full time profession.
Up until now I have only had the time to make deliveries, but now I can turn my attention towards finding new customers and building the business. I intend to split my area into two sections. Basically everything to the north and East of me, namely Southampton, Romsey, Winchester and Eastleigh etc will be offered deliveries on Monday Wednesday and Friday. Everyone to the West of me, that’s Ringwood, Fordingbridge, Christchurch and New Forest areas, will get Tuesday and Thursday deliveries. Those of you who are more local to me, such as Fawley, Hythe and Marchwood will probably still get deliveries every weekday as I’ll need to drive past you wherever else I’m going! I’ll leave Saturday for urgent deliveries or those who cannot be home during the week, or maybe even a day off!
I’m going to need a lot more customers if I’m to stand a chance of earning a full time income from “Nutbags”. You have all been very good to me by referring new customers in the past, and I’m extremely grateful for that. I am continuing to offer my 10% referral bonus so if you do send any more new customers my way, you can look forward to a discount on your next order. I also now offer a 10% discount on every new customer’s first order so they will benefit from your referral too.
I believe I have between a year and 18 months to try and make this business work for me. I’ll need to find a lot more customers, and keep on top of my costs but I’m confident I’ll succeed, (unlike toothless birds that suck seed!!).
NEW SEASON BROCHURES…….
Autumn is approaching which means it’s the new season for bird food retailers. All the major suppliers have now sent me their new brochures which contain the usual mix of new products, price increases and price cuts. The new items include tubs of 50 fatballs without the nets on, a hanging water feeder, and a new improved ground bird and table seed mix. There is also a bug box for insects and new peanut and Niger feeders. I am discontinuing the Cat Scarer and Binoculars, and Gardman pre packed peanuts, seed supreme, no mess mix and blackbird seed. Gardman have also stopped selling their value seed and peanut feeder range, but I have quite a few still in stock and will look for alternate products when they’ve gone. The price of feeding stations has gone up but it now includes two free metal feeders, valued at £13.98, so is actually much better value and will make a super gift for someone.
I am re branding my peanuts so now offer economy and premium versions.
I’m pleased to report that I’m able to reduce the price of a sack of Sunflower Hearts for the second time in the past couple of months to £30.
Natures Feast, who make my Ground bird supreme mix have now combined it with their Table seed. I have not had any delivered yet but I’m told it’s a better mixture of seeds with higher fruit content. I still have about a month’s supply of the old version which I’ll continue to offer at the old price whilst stocks last. They have also just introduced their own dried mealworms in a 500g tub at £1 less than my previous supplier so I will now stock these.
I will shortly start production of my Camera nest boxes. These proved very popular last year particularly in the run up to Christmas. I am holding the price at £50 for a while, but expect they will have to go up to £55 probably in October. If you would like to order one please let me know as soon as possible to qualify for the lower price.
A new price list is supplied, but as prices are changeable, check the website for latest prices and offers.
THIS YEARS BREEDING SEASON
It would seem that the breeding season this year was quite a good one. Many of you have reported seeing two or even three broods from many garden species. Certainly the House Sparrows in my nest box had three broods. This resulted in a very busy time at our feeders with lots of birds feeding throughout the summer. Normally the garden goes a bit quiet during August but it hasn’t happened yet. Hopefully this means that many bird populations have recovered a bit after several poor nesting seasons and last years cold winter.
WHERE HAVE MY GREENFINCHES GONE?
Recently several people have asked me why their Greenfinches seem to have disappeared. One possible reason is that they are now joining large flocks of other Finches out in the countryside and Farmland, to take advantage of all the seeds that are now ripening. I came across a flock of perhaps 200 birds near Exbury a few days ago, feeding on weed seeds. They were mostly Greenfinch along with a few Chaffinch and Goldfinch. This happens at this time of year so we should probably expect things to be a bit quieter in the garden now. Some birds are also moulting now plus autumn migration is starting, so there are several reasons why the bird population might seem a bit transient. To compensate, my long tailed Tits have returned and there seem to be good numbers of other species around.
PAYMENT METHODS
I can now offer you four methods of payment. As well as the usual cash or cheque on delivery, I can send you a PayPal invoice online which you can pay with a credit card(incurs a fee of approx 3.5%),or I can give you my bank account details for direct bank transfer.
EMAIL
I mentioned in the last newsletter that I was looking for a new web provider for the Nutbags site. This has surprisingly proved more complicated than I thought. I’ve signed up with several companies on a trial basis but once I started building the site either it didn’t look right or do the things promised, or the costs mysteriously rose way over those advertised. I’m thinking I may now drop the idea of having a full shop facility on the site as this makes it expensive. I’ll probably try to keep the site similar to the way it is now as I can do this cheaply or even free.
If you are reading this newsletter on paper but have an email address and would like to receive future updates electronically, please let me have your address and I’ll add you onto my mailing list. This helps me to keep my costs down. Each newsletter that I post out costs about 45p in total and I have about 350 customers receiving them that way so its quite a large expense, four times per year.
AND FINALLY…..
As we head into the autumn we can look forward to lots of changes in the garden. Fruits, berries and seeds are ripening which provides lots of natural foods for wildlife. They will busily feed as much as possible to give themselves the best possible chance of surviving the coming winter. Hedgehogs need to build up a good fat layer ready for hibernation, and many of our garden birds are preparing to migrate south or west to milder areas. As the days get shorter and colder birds will start relying on us more to provide food for them, particularly as we get into the latter part of the season when natural foods start running low.
We can look forward to the return of winter thrushes, like Redwings and Fieldfares. They really love fruit so if you have an apple tree leave some of the windfalls for them. This will also benefit insects and hedgehogs so everything wins!
Next newsletter due in mid November, just in time for Christmas. So, on that cheery note…….
Enjoy your birdlife.
Paul & Christine
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