Why Feed Birds

As many natural habitats have disappeared or changed, wild birds are increasingly dependent on humans for food.  They particularly need help in winter and spring when naturally occuring foods are scarce, but supplementary food all year round will ensure that your garden benefits from regular bird visitors.

The most important times that food should be available in yoru garden are first thing in the morning and in mid-afternoon, to ensure that birds can keep their energy reserves up throughout the day and night.

How To Feed

What kind of bird feeders to use depends both on the kind of food you want to put out and the kind of birds you expect to attract to your garden or yard. Peanuts are popular with most kinds of bird, but should never be fed whole on the ground or on bird-tables as they can be a choking hazard for many species.  They should either be crushed up to be fed loose, or placed whole into mesh peanut feeders which can then be hung on trees, brackets, or feeding poles.  Species such as tits and finches will happily use feeders, while starlings, dunnocks and robins will be happier pecking crushed nuts from a flat surface. You should always buy peanuts intended for consumption by birds, and both these and feeders are freely available in high street shops, garden centres and DIY stores.  Some stores also sell pre-chopped nuts to use ion bird-tables.

Seed and seed mixes can be safely fed on the ground, on bird tables or in seed feeders.  Seed feeders are plastic with holes for the birds to feed. Different species have different eating habits and trial and error will reveal which species visit and use what you put out for them. Blackbirds, finches, robins, sparrows and starlings will all eat most seed mixes from the ground or bird tables, and tits, finches and siskins are particularly fond of sunflower seeds in seed feeders or on tables.  You may find that sunflower seeds still in their black husks can be a bit messy, as the birds tend to leave the husks behind, but some shops sell sunflower seeds with the husks removed.

Thistle seed (or niger seed) is a very fine, black seed that can be sprinkled on tables or the ground, or that can be put into a specially designed feeder with very small holes. Niger seeds are especially attractive to tits and finches, and some people call them a "goldfinch magnet".

Fat balls and suet blocks are attractive to most birds, although it is best to buy a proper holder for these and to remove them from the mesh pockets that they are supplied in, as the mesh can cause injury to smaller birds.  Again, the fat and suet snacks and the holders are both easily available from high street stores, DIY shops and garden centres.  The fat ball/suet block holders enable both smaller and larger birds to feed, but some ground-preferring species such as robins and blackbrids will benefit from suet being put on the ground or flat onto bird tables for them - some stores sell suet pellets that are especially useful for this purpose.

Where To Feed

In general, you should place bird tables or hanging feeders away from predators such as cats.  Some garden centres and DIY stores sell poles with arms that can be placed in the ground to hang feeders from and these are hard for cats to climb. If feeding birds on the ground, it's best to put food where there is some shelter but not in a place where cats can easily conceal themselves.

Water

A source of clean, fresh water is extremely important for birds, year-round.  You can purchase bird baths of many sizes that hang, affix to fences or that can be placed on the ground.  If your garden is cat-free you can use a plant-pot tray on the ground - most birds will happily drink and bath in these provided that they are not too deep. In winter you should put out warm (not hot) water, and try to make sure it is replaced daily, all year round.

Hygiene

Uneaten food should be disposed of from time to time, and the seed feeders and bird tables should be cleaned to prevent bacteria from spreading.  A mild solution of washing up liquid and water should suffice for this task, but don't forget to thoroughly rinse afterwards to ensure that there are no chemical left on the feeders. You may need to scrape bird tables clean, and to avoid ground feeding areas becoming unhygienic, it's advisable to move poles and ground feeding apparatus to different areas of the garden.

To avoid waste, only put out small amounts of food on a daily basis - this ensures that it stays fresh.  Unused food should be stores in airtight bags or containers.

Always remember to wash your hands after touching bird feeders or food, and preferably wear rubber gloves to clean them.

Nest Boxes

If you decide to try placing nest boxes in your garden you may find that trail and error will reveal the best locations.  In general, try to site them away from the prevailing wind, direct sunlight, or driving rain. Remember to put them out of the reach of predators and away from bird feeding devices or tables.

Nest boxes should be cleaned once in September after the fledglings have left the nest, and once in February in case they have been used as winter roosting spots.  You should not disturb the boxes at any other time.

A variety of boxes are available on the shelves of shops with different sized openings for different birds.  Most boxes will have a guide attached to them to tell you what birds they are suitable for - in general, smaller holes suit tits, larger holes suit finches or sparrows, and open fronts suit robins.