UKH

Morning 

I know this is a bit unusual, even for UKC.  I want to put up a small bird feeder which excludes starlings, these are bullying the smaller ones off right now.  I have one with a guardian, nut it’s too close to the food, and starlings can reach through.  I don’t live close enough to go check a feeder, I’ll be buying on line - which makes it difficult to gauge any new feeder.  Thanks in advance for any shout outs.

Some here:

https://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/category/bird-care/wild-and-garden-bird-feede...

OR:  you could buy a standard sunflower heart feeder (plastic tube with some perching sticks protruding out), and trim the sticks so only smaller birds can use. 

Of starlings breed nearby, they need food more than most garden birds (soul and turf increasingly to hard for them) - mealworms. 

Get two. One for the tiny ones - you can get lots online/in shops which have an outer cage - and one for the starlings. Round here they are really struggling so I feed them mealworms on the ground and feed the smaller birds from hanging feeders with sunflower hearts and multiseed, which the starlings tend to avoid.

I don’t want to not look after them too, I know they re having a tough time, but want to give the small birds space too

Sorry, my post wasnt supposed to be accusatory. I was just explaining what I do.

Despite them practically eating everything and bullying other birds, I even reluctantly feed the wood pigeons as they also have it tough at this time of year.

I bought one of these to stop pigeons and magpies emptying feeders too quickly. https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/bird-feeders-boxes-tables/bird-care-accessorie... .

Works also for starlings I discovered, though it is theoretically possible for them to just reach their beak through if in the right position to the seeds but they don’t as it seems too much of an effort. They get fallen food, and that which I scatter on the ground, along with the pigeons and magpies, and birds like the Blackbirds. 

As an aside, I also have a ground feeder mesh protector for all the small ground feeding birds like Robins and Dunnocks to get their share and have protection from being chased away by the larger birds.

Will comment on this one: the problem is that Starlings *are* relatively small birds: anything that keeps all starlings out will also keep some of your preferred birds like robins out as well.

To go back to the original question: go for a standard seed feed, with perches, and put non-starling food like sunflower hearts (or sunflower chips, which are cheaper and flow easier) in it. Then have the more standard fat balls and suet pellets in a seperate feeder elsewhere. I just throw suet pellets widely on the ground, as this allows the starlings to eat without too much squabbling and also feeds the blackbirds.

What can I do to deter jackdaws? They are coming for the fat balls & suet. I stopped putting them out for a while, only sunflower seeds, but now they are back again. I put them back for the long-tailed tits but the jackdaws are back now too...

Those feeders that have a globe like cage around the actual feeder would work.

I appreciate starlings and jackdaws and pigeons may not be small, but they are birds none the less and in the case of the starlings their numbers have fallen by massive amounts over the last 20 years or so.  Robins,  tBlue tits, numbers have remained stable, I think I'd do what Bottom Clinger has suggested and put foods out which starlings don't particularily eat, such as sunflower seeds and some other seeds.

I have a rspb anti squirrel one for my sunflower hearts mostly to keep pigeons off it (since they kept flapping against it and knocking all the seeds out and I would prefer not to subsidise the local pigeon keepers hobby).

I havent seen the starlings try it but then they do tend to stick to the suet nibbles. I think they could probably reach through it if they really liked the sunflower heats but it wouldnt be easy.

I would suggest, if financially sensible, going for a mix of sunflower hearts + nibbles to keep all of them happy.

Despite their apparent numbers in some places as others have mentioned Starlings are under threat.

I have a small bird feeder with a spring loaded perch, which closes  when something like a jackdaw (or for that matter, a squirrel) tries to use it.

However I can't recommend it because it's really fiddly to clean, which means I don't do it as often as I should.

I love Jackdaws! Such a knowing look when they catch your eye. 

Me too. Very clever animals, and always interesting to observe.

Collective noun for jackdaws: a ‘clattering’, which seems apt, or a ‘train’.  Great birds, and can form huge flocks (1000’s).