Feeding wild birds is one of life's great pleasures
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Goldfinches love small seeds, like in these teasel heads
You don't have to put a lot of food out; just try and make sure you are consistent.
Every morning is best because the birds have all day to work away at the food. Ideally they should have cleaned up completely by evening so there is nothing left to attract rodents overnight.
Just put out what you feel you can afford to. When they clean up, they will go off wild foraging, just as they would if you did not feed them. However, your morning offering is a welcome, nutritious and easy breakfast to set them up for the day.
Why Feed Wild Birds?
A source of fresh water is vital for wild birds
While our wild garden birds should be able to fend for themselves without our help, the evidence is showing that they’re not. The RSPB have identified a ‘serious, countrywide, decline in the numbers of many birds’, which they say comes mainly from a lack of suitable food sources and breeding sites.
On a national level, modern farming practices are the most likely culprit but change always has to start somewhere and, by making our outdoor spaces more wildlife friendly, we can all do our bit to help.
Feeding the birds is an easy and rewarding first step, so whether you’ve got space for a window feeder or a whole host of feeding stations, why not start now?
Provide a diverse bird friendly habitat within your garden: plant shrubs, lawn and trees and, if you can, provide a small pond. This encourages insects, which in turn bring birds into your garden.
Provide nest sites for species such as sparrows, starlings, tits and wagtails. All these species suffer from a lack of nest holes because of our modern highly maintained buildings and our insistence on 'cleaning up' dead and dying trees.
Provide suitable high quality food that appeals to a range of seed and insect eaters, not just a cheap grain mix suitable for doves, crows, pigeon and rodents.
Support birds with a little of each of these and you are certain to be rewarded with a glorious dawn chorus, as well as a beautiful garden for you to enjoy as well.
On a national level, modern farming practices are the most likely culprit but change always has to start somewhere and, by making our outdoor spaces more wildlife friendly, we can all do our bit to help.
Feeding the birds is an easy and rewarding first step, so whether you’ve got space for a window feeder or a whole host of feeding stations, why not start now?
Provide a diverse bird friendly habitat within your garden: plant shrubs, lawn and trees and, if you can, provide a small pond. This encourages insects, which in turn bring birds into your garden.
Provide nest sites for species such as sparrows, starlings, tits and wagtails. All these species suffer from a lack of nest holes because of our modern highly maintained buildings and our insistence on 'cleaning up' dead and dying trees.
Provide suitable high quality food that appeals to a range of seed and insect eaters, not just a cheap grain mix suitable for doves, crows, pigeon and rodents.
Support birds with a little of each of these and you are certain to be rewarded with a glorious dawn chorus, as well as a beautiful garden for you to enjoy as well.
Should I feed my garden birds year round?
Tree sparrows are one of the species that have suffered a serious decline in recent years
The short answer is yes!
Advice on this has changed over the years but feeding year-round is especially important now that habitat decline has become a big issue for breeding birds. While winter is traditionally thought of as the most difficult time of year, we now know that birds can struggle to find enough food throughout the year – not just during winter.
Increasingly, research shows that modern farming techniques are reducing the amount of suitable habitat for wildlife, and this has a direct impact on our garden birds. Birds rely on their surroundings for food: this might be caterpillars, berries, seeds, worms… but all of these things rely on there being a suitable habitat.
Worms, insects and grubs need hidden corners, shady spaces and food sources to thrive. Old cobwebs deep in the corners of old sash windows offer a banquet for blue tits, who can hang acrobatically on the edges and pick out the hidden insects. Smooth, clean, modern uPVC windows offer fewer possibilities for them. Similarly, house martens and swallows need suitable eaves and corners to nest in, which modern buildings often fail to provide.
Beautifully groomed lawns, unblemished by weeds or moss, are also fairly unappealing for wildlife and don’t support as many bugs and beasties. No bugs and beasties means no birds, so we need to do a little bit to help them out.
Some natural foods are obviously more abundant at different times of year, as well. Early summer is great for caterpillars; late summer provides abundant fruit and berries; and seed heads often retain their seeds well into winter if they’re left to stand, rather than tidied up.
But nature goes in cycles, and the availability of foods also varies hugely in different years, so providing even a small amount of food on a regular basis can help birds though any lean periods,
There are some important things to remember when feeding though, as certain foods are more suitable at different times of year. Check out the advice from the RSPB to make sure you're helping, not harming, your garden birds, with the foods you choose.
Advice on this has changed over the years but feeding year-round is especially important now that habitat decline has become a big issue for breeding birds. While winter is traditionally thought of as the most difficult time of year, we now know that birds can struggle to find enough food throughout the year – not just during winter.
Increasingly, research shows that modern farming techniques are reducing the amount of suitable habitat for wildlife, and this has a direct impact on our garden birds. Birds rely on their surroundings for food: this might be caterpillars, berries, seeds, worms… but all of these things rely on there being a suitable habitat.
Worms, insects and grubs need hidden corners, shady spaces and food sources to thrive. Old cobwebs deep in the corners of old sash windows offer a banquet for blue tits, who can hang acrobatically on the edges and pick out the hidden insects. Smooth, clean, modern uPVC windows offer fewer possibilities for them. Similarly, house martens and swallows need suitable eaves and corners to nest in, which modern buildings often fail to provide.
Beautifully groomed lawns, unblemished by weeds or moss, are also fairly unappealing for wildlife and don’t support as many bugs and beasties. No bugs and beasties means no birds, so we need to do a little bit to help them out.
Some natural foods are obviously more abundant at different times of year, as well. Early summer is great for caterpillars; late summer provides abundant fruit and berries; and seed heads often retain their seeds well into winter if they’re left to stand, rather than tidied up.
But nature goes in cycles, and the availability of foods also varies hugely in different years, so providing even a small amount of food on a regular basis can help birds though any lean periods,
There are some important things to remember when feeding though, as certain foods are more suitable at different times of year. Check out the advice from the RSPB to make sure you're helping, not harming, your garden birds, with the foods you choose.
What should I do if I have sick birds in my garden?
If you’ve seen sickly birds in your garden, especially ones who are lethargic, unusually tame seeming or fluffed up, then you need to take action.
The most likely cause is trichomoniasis, which is a parasite that causes lesions in the affected bird’s throat, making it difficult for it to swallow. Eventually, the bird will die because the lesions will affect its ability to breathe. These birds often also have saliva and uneaten food stuck to their beaks and fronts.
Finches – goldfinches, greenfinches, and chaffinches – seem to be the most susceptible to this parasite, but it can affect any bird, although it doesn’t pass to humans, cats or dogs.
Other diseases can include salmonellae, outbreaks of which can also be helped by following the advice below.
To stop the spread of disease, you should immediately stop providing food and water for the birds for a few weeks.
To prevent initial infection, or reinfection, keep your bird feeders clean. Because you’ll have to regularly clean the feeders it’s worth buying ones that are easy to take apart and clean thoroughly, such as Ring Pull feeders. I’ve thrown away more feeders than I can count simply because I couldn’t adequately clean them, and the Ring Pull ones are the best I’ve found to solve this. Take them apart, scrub every part with disinfectant, then thoroughly dry them before refilling them.
It’s also worth ensuring that the feeder area is not contaminated. Bird faeces and saliva can both carry disease, so the ideal solution is to have a flat concrete pad below the feeder that you can sweep up regularly and scrub when needed. The other benefit to this is that you can see if birds are wasting food and clear up anything that’s not being eaten, thus reducing the risk of rodents blagging free meals from you. If you are getting a lot of wasted food, consider using a different seed mix which is more suited to the kind of birds you have in your garden. Many seed mixes are filled with cheap wheat and barley, which small birds are not interested in.
If a concrete base isn’t an option, try to rotate where your feeder is sited, to help stop any infection from building up. The trichomoniasis parasite doesn’t live long outside of the host, so will die if there are no birds to pass on to.
The most likely cause is trichomoniasis, which is a parasite that causes lesions in the affected bird’s throat, making it difficult for it to swallow. Eventually, the bird will die because the lesions will affect its ability to breathe. These birds often also have saliva and uneaten food stuck to their beaks and fronts.
Finches – goldfinches, greenfinches, and chaffinches – seem to be the most susceptible to this parasite, but it can affect any bird, although it doesn’t pass to humans, cats or dogs.
Other diseases can include salmonellae, outbreaks of which can also be helped by following the advice below.
To stop the spread of disease, you should immediately stop providing food and water for the birds for a few weeks.
To prevent initial infection, or reinfection, keep your bird feeders clean. Because you’ll have to regularly clean the feeders it’s worth buying ones that are easy to take apart and clean thoroughly, such as Ring Pull feeders. I’ve thrown away more feeders than I can count simply because I couldn’t adequately clean them, and the Ring Pull ones are the best I’ve found to solve this. Take them apart, scrub every part with disinfectant, then thoroughly dry them before refilling them.
It’s also worth ensuring that the feeder area is not contaminated. Bird faeces and saliva can both carry disease, so the ideal solution is to have a flat concrete pad below the feeder that you can sweep up regularly and scrub when needed. The other benefit to this is that you can see if birds are wasting food and clear up anything that’s not being eaten, thus reducing the risk of rodents blagging free meals from you. If you are getting a lot of wasted food, consider using a different seed mix which is more suited to the kind of birds you have in your garden. Many seed mixes are filled with cheap wheat and barley, which small birds are not interested in.
If a concrete base isn’t an option, try to rotate where your feeder is sited, to help stop any infection from building up. The trichomoniasis parasite doesn’t live long outside of the host, so will die if there are no birds to pass on to.