Supa Wild Bird Window Feeder

A bird feeder normally gets sited for the bird's benefit, which means the far end of the garden, close to cover, at the one angle nobody can see from the kitchen. A window feeder swaps that around and asks the birds to come to the most exposed spot instead. They do, in the end — but not on the first day, and that is the part worth knowing before you buy one.

Supa make the body and roof from polycarbonate, clear so it disappears against the glass, held up by heavy duty suction cups. The food tray has a lip to it, which gives a bird something to perch on while it feeds. The roof is tapered so rainwater runs off, and there are drainage holes in the base so any water that does get in escapes rather than sitting under the seed. Supa list it for sunflower hearts, general seed mixes, fruit, suet pellets, dried mealworms and other wild bird treats.

• Clear polycarbonate body and roof
• Heavy duty suction cups
• Feeding tray with a lip that doubles as a perch
• Tapered roof, and drainage holes in the base
• Listed for sunflower hearts, seed mixes, fruit, suet pellets and dried mealworms
• Supa say it is not recommended for feeding peanuts

Two things catch people out. The first is Supa's own warning, which is easy to miss: this feeder is not recommended for peanuts. The second is that being invisible against the glass works against you at the start — Supa's advice is to keep it topped up so there is always something there to find, and, with pale food such as sunflower hearts, to mix in something darker like berry suet pellets or mealworms so a bird has some contrast to spot. No dimensions and no seed capacity are published anywhere, so how much it actually holds is something you learn when you fill it.

Who it's for: flats, yards and anyone whose garden is really a windowsill, and households with children or someone housebound, where the point of the thing is the watching rather than the feeding.