The dos and don’ts of feeding birds in your garden

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The dos and don’ts of feeding birds in your garden

If you’re keen to help your feathered friends, you might have considered feeding the birds that stop by your garden. One of the simplest ways to interact with nature, bird feeding can be a highly enjoyable pastime for those living in the United Kingdom. Home to a host of beautiful birds, UK gardens are regularly rewarded with visits from wrens and robins, blackbirds and woodpigeons, along with many others.

To help you in your new hobby, we’ve assembled some simple do’s and don’ts to steer you on the right course. In the following passages you’ll gain tips on caring for your feeder, where to place it along with the types of food best suited for different times of the year. Read on for our handy guide on how best to offer a snack to the birds in your garden.

✓DO

Do purchase specialist food for birds

The best move you can make is to offer birds food that is both nutritious and 100% natural. If you wish to attract a diverse number of species to your garden its worth catering for the tastes of a wide variety of birds. Here at the Burleydam Garden Centre, you can browse our specialist Birdcare Shop where you’ll find a host of options from nutria-bombs to value sacks of peanuts and sunflower seeds.

Do ensure you feed birds all through the year

While the winter months are when birds require your assistance the most, you should feed them all year round so they know where to come when the coldest part of the year comes. In winter, birds need their energy to stay warm and can’t expend it on flying to find new areas where they can eat.

For autumn and wintertime put out both water and food regularly. In extreme cold, feed the birds twice a day if possible, once in the morning and again around midday. In these colder months, birds need high-fat food for increased energy reserves. Maintaining their stores of fat is crucial to surviving freezing nights outdoors. Feed them only high-quality food for birds and only scraps that are not harmful.

For spring and summer switch to high-protein feed which birds require during the moulting season. Feed high-quality foods including pinhead oatmeal, black sunflower seeds, soaked raisins, currants and sultanas, loose peanuts along with waxworms and mealworms. Soft fruit such as bananas, pears, apples and grapes are also excellent choices.

Do consider the kind of feeder you’re using and where you position it

Fat balls and peanuts are often made available to buy in mesh bags made of nylon. You should never put food out for birds in these bags as they can snare bird’s feet. This can result in torn or broken limbs and feet for birds. Species that possess a barbed tongue, such as woodpeckers, will also run the risk of a trapped beak, if caught in the mesh.

Exactly where you put a feeder is worth thinking about for the safety of your garden guests. Large quantities of birds are killed or injured each year in collisions with windows. As a preventative measure, feeders should always be positioned 30 feet from windows or within three feet. The first measurement lowers the chance of birds viewing windows as a possible flight path while the second ensures bird can’t build up momentum powerful enough to fatally injure themselves.

Feeders should be located outside the reach of garden predators like cats. They should also be positioned away from cover that hunting predators can make use of to stalk birds.

✖DON’T

Don’t feed birds foods that could be harmful

While it’s well meant, putting out your leftovers for birds can potentially be dangerous to their diet. Birds are notorious for trying to eat just about anything that is edible, but many substances are harmful to them and should never be present on your feeding table. As a rule, salted food is not good for birds and vegetable oils and margarine spreads are bad for their digestion along with smearing their feathers. Birds are also unable to digest milk this can lead to a seriously upset stomach and in the worst cases, death. Any food that is out of date or mouldy should never be offered either.

Salted items, including crisps, bacon and peanuts coated in salt should always be avoided in feeders, as should dry food with a tendency to swell after ingestion. If not properly soaked, desiccated coconut can kill birds, to err on the side of caution.

Size matters when it comes to what you’re feeding birds, large pieces of dried bread, hard fat and even whole peanuts can be too big for birds and be a choking hazard. This is particularly important during the spring and summer months. This is the time when birds breed, and adults may be taking food from your bird table away to feed offspring in their nests. Large pieces that adult birds struggle with can choke chicks and fledglings far easier.

Don’t let your feeder become unhygienic

Regular cleaning is essential when it comes to bird feeders to make certain they are hygienic and not a health risk to your visitors. Always clean any food that’s gone to waste away along with bird droppings to inhibit the build-up of bacteria. If large quantities of food remain uneaten reduce the amount you put out. As well as going to rot, the food left out can also attract scavengers such as rats.

Not only amazing to observe, it can be a wonderful feeling to support these stunning creatures, helping them during food shortages. While it may seem a simple pleasure for a good cause, its vitally important that you keep to the best practices when it comes to bird feeding. If you take the right steps and avoid the pitfalls, you can make certain you’re not risking the health and lives of your avian visitors and encourage a wide variety of species to drop by for a bite to eat.

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