When should birds be fed?
Winter, of course, is the most important time to feed garden birds. Ice and snow cut
many birds off from their food supply. In severe weather the short daylight hours mean
less time to forage and small birds are particularly vulnerable to starvation and heat loss.
Be sure to continue regular feeding throughout the winter.
Feeding between the months of April and October is also helpful. It makes life a lot
easier for the adult birds coping with nesting and young birds.
There is no evidence that peanuts are harmful to young birds.
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Summer Feeding - Should You?
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One of the arguments in favour of year round feeding with quality foods is that it helps birds to cope with temporary food shortages in what can often be a very managed and artificial environment, and helps the adults to attain breeding condition after the stresses of the winter. Many of the birds that visit feeders require oil-rich weed seeds to survive (rather than the starchy
cereals found in cheap mixes), and most reputable specialist companies try to replicate this by using a
range of foods such as black sunflower seeds - with or without the husk - and peanuts. It should go without saying that peanuts should only be available through mesh feeders during the breeding season to avoid whole nuts being taken to the nest).
The other fairly compelling argument is that by providing supplementary food during the summer months the adults don't have to compete with their
young for insect food (in the case of species such as the tits), and when the young birds fledge there is a decent safety net for them while they are learning their
foraging skills.
A quote from the RSPB's information leaflet 'feeding garden birds': "The value of winter feeding has been known for a long time, but in recent years it has become apparent that many birds are struggling to survive
during the breeding season because of the fluctuations
in weather, intensive farming and greater tidiness in gardens and all built up areas. By feeding year round we are giving birds a better chance to survive the periods of food shortage whenever they may occur".
Many thanks to Martin George
Wildlife Advice & Customer Care Manager,
CJ WildBird Foods Limited,
The Rea, Upton Magna, Shrewsbury
Shropshire SY 4 4UR
who supplied Flightlines with this information.
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What food should be given?
Nuts
Peanuts are the most popular food and broken nuts can be bought cheaply in bulk.
Sunflower seeds are particularly popular with tits and greenfinches.
Seeds
Almost any dry seeds from the pet shop will be eaten. Mixed wildbird seed is by far the cheapest proprietary bird food. These include canary, rape and hemp seed. Sunflower heads, honesty, cabbage and thistle seed can be kept back from the garden and given to birds when conditions become hard.
Fats
Don't waste any fats! It's a nutritious food for garden birds. Lumps of suet can be hung out. Meat trimmings, bacon rind and table scraps will also be eaten.
Melted fat can be poured over bread and scraps to make "bird cake". Add seeds, nuts, oatmeal, cheese or dried fruit as available. Coconut shells and yogurt cartons make suitable moulds.
Cheese scattered on the ground beneath bushes in very cold weather should attract wrens.
Fruit
This is usually put out after the turn of the year when wild fruit has become exhausted.
Suitable fruits are apples, pears, figs, grapes, currants and raisins,
dried apricots and prunes. (Dried fruit should be soaked first). A coconut
sawn in half and hung upside down is popular with the tits. Apples cut in
half and speared on branches will attract wintering Blackcap.
Grain-based foods
These are always available in the kitchen and include bread, bisquits and stale cake. Bread should be moistened slightly; it is less likely to blow away or taken in large pieces by the more aggressive birds. Try putting some bread at a distance from your birdtable to divert the starling, magpies and crows. Maize flakes, oat flakes and even puppy meal are other valuable foods.
Live foods
Mealworms can be bought in pet shops or bred at home. Robins find live food more attractive. Ant eggs (which are in fact pupae) can sometimes be found beneath logs and stones.
One source of mealworms is:
Wiggly Wigglers, Lower Blakemere Farm, Blakemere, Herefordshire HR2 9PX. Ph.01981 500391
http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk
Where should the food be put?
Food can be placed on a window sill, shed roof or hung from trees and shrubs.
A bird table, which need only be a tray nailed to a post or suspended from a tree,
is ideal. A roof to keep the weather off and a rim to prevent food falling off are points
to think about. Bird tables work best when they are close to some dense shrub or hedge as the birds don't like being exposed
for long to predators such as Sparrowhawk. Wire mesh containers, plastic mesh bags and seed hoppers can be suspended
from a table or tree.
- Food should be placed so as to be inaccessible to cats. Ground feeding birds such as thrush and dunnock can be fed in open area where cats have no cover.
- Slug bait and other pesticides should be avoided at all costs.
Should water be provided?
Garden birds need water for drinking and bathing all year round. All birds tend to drink more in winter than in summer.
Most birds need to bathe to keep their feathers in good condition. A good bird bath can be made from an inverted
bin lid sunk into the ground or go the whole-hog with a pond.
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