Don’t just throw some food out for the birds. If you want to really support these incredible creatures, you can power up your efforts easily and make a huge difference to their survival
Feeding the birds is more than just a hobby or a passing whim, it really makes a difference to our feathered friends and with a little more understanding, you can really make your efforts work harder for them.
It’s not just about putting out bird food. Though, of course that helps. Our helpful advice will ensure that your garden birds have the best chance to stay healthy and safe.
How to feed the birds
- Save yourself, time, effort and money and buy quality bird food. There are a lot of cheap bird food mixes available, and while the birds may appear to eat them, they can cause all sorts of other problems.
- Some bird food contains cheap fillers that the birds don’t eat and these fall to the ground making a mess, going mouldy and attracting rats.
- Choose a mix that contains a wide variety of quality ingredeints to feed different birds. Not all birds eat the same foods. Finches love seeds, they have a seed-breaking beak, blue-tits feast on peanuts and sunflower seeds, while robins love insects like worms and mealworms.
- Look for a bird food that has shelled ingredients, like sunflower seed hearts, these are easier and faster for the birds to eat and create less mess too beneath the feeder. In cold weather every scrap of energy that the birds can save finding food is really important.
- Look for bird food that is high in energy rich ingredients. In the winter and also in breeding season, the birds need every scrap of energy they can get.
- Probably the next most important thing to consider when you embark on feeding the birds is the health and well-being of your wild pets. It is really important to keep their feeding station and the feeders and bird bath too as clean as you can. As the birds flock to your feeders you want to be sure they are eating clean, fresh, quality food safely.
- If you’ve never fed the birds before it may take them a little while to find your bird table. Don’t load it up with lots of food. If it rains it will quickly go mouldy and that’s no good for anyone, plus it may attract the attention of unwelcome visitors such as rodents. Once the birds find your feeding station and start to visit you can adjust how much you feed to suit your visitors.
- Keep your feeders topped up. Once the birds have decided that your feeders are a reliable source of food, they will keep coming back. If you stop feeding them or are away, this is wasted energy, espciellay in cold weather. Get a neighbour to feed them if you are away so that they still get the support that they need.
- Be sure to provide a source of water. Keep it clean and free from snow and ice in cold weather.
- Put your feeders where you can see them from the house, then you really get to enjoy their antics and appreciate their presence in the garden.
- Make sure that the birds have a good line of sight around your feeders to stay safe from predators like cats. A feeding station out in the open stops predators creeping up on your birds as they feed.
- Go easy on the bug killers and pesticides, many of our garden birds eat insects and in fact will clear your garden of the very ‘pests’ that attack your plants – for free. It’s all part of the intricate balance of nature; everything is a meal for something else and our plants are the bottom of the food chain.
- Many of our garden plants provide natural food for the birds. Berries are a great example, but the birds will also eat soft fruit, nuts and seeds. Leave some seedheads on your plants for the birds to eat in winter, including some of the things that are generally regarded as weeds. Greenfinches love the seeds of teasels, sunflowers, thistles and dandelions, so the birds can even help keep your garden free from weeds.