Seeing and hearing the birds in our garden is always a delight, but winter can be a hard time of year for our feathered friends so we’ve put together a few ideas on how you can help them stay healthy.
Providing bird feeders in your garden is an obvious place to start. Place hanging feeders in sheltered bird-friendly spots, close to nearby shrubs or bushes where they can seek shelter if they feel threatened. Bear in mind predators such as the neighbourhood cats.
Some species are ground-feeders, so don’t forget to sprinkle some food around the garden for them to find.
If you have a bird table or similar that can be moved, consider relocating it occasionally to avoid predatory birds getting familiar with its location, although it’s important to ensure it’s still sheltered from the worst of the rain and wind.
Birds love routine
Birds need a reliable source of supplementary food at this time of year as they need to refuel quickly in bad conditions, so try to refill feeders regularly – sometimes up to twice a day when the weather’s really bad.
If you stick to a regular routine and refill your feeders at the same time each, the birds will get to know when is the best time to visit your garden and you’ll be rewarded with seeing them tuck in.
Bird food favourites
Aim to feed a range of different bird seed, nuts, grains and fats to appeal to a wide variety of bird species. Don’t forget to scatter some for the ground-feeding species.
For example, blackbirds love live mealworms and sunflower hearts, blue tits enjoy peanuts and suet nibbles and robins will eat all of those, plus a sprinkling of oats.
Starlings too will eat just about anything and although they are often considered the bully-boys of the feeding table their numbers have been declining so they also need your help to survive.
Sparrows too are becoming rarer, so will benefit from a diet of mealworms, seed and suet.
Don’t forget you can also supplement their diet with scraps leftover from the kitchen, such as cheese, the fat from unsalted meat, dried fruit, porridge oats, leftover pastry, cooked rice or pasta.
But, don’t put out leftover salted nuts as salty foods can cause dehydration. Other things to avoid include desiccated coconut which can swell in their stomachs and white bread, which is of little nutritional value and won’t give your garden birds the energy they need. Crumbled up wholemeal bread is okay.
Keep it clean and safe
If food does get left on the bird table and gets wet and soggy from rain or snow, you may need to clear it away before it becomes unappetising and rotten.
Keeping feeders and feeding stations clean is also important to reduce the risk of diseases spreading between your feathery visitors.
While you’re feeding the birds, don’t forget about water – provide a shallow bird bath where birds can get a drink and spruce up their feathers.
By placing a small ball, such as a ping pong ball in the bird bath, you can prevent it freezing over so they always have access to water. Otherwise, don‘t forget to break the ice for them when necessary.
Nesting boxes for shelter and breeding
Another thing to think about is providing shelter for your garden birds. Many species use nesting boxes to stay warm during the chilly weather and by the middle of February they will be getting ready to breed.
Furnish bird boxes with wood shavings – not sawdust – to give roosting birds some extra comfort and warmth.
When deciding where to place nesting boxes, you’ll need to take into account the height at which boxes are placed as well as the location, whether nearby cover is essential, the direction of the sun and wet winds and the proximity of other bird boxes.
One more thing you may want to consider to attract more birds to your garden is putting up a bug hotel as anything which attracts more insects to your garden is bound to be a big hit.
And don’t only feed and take care of your garden visitors in the winter. They will benefit from your support all year round, especially at breeding time when there are more mouths to feed.
Everything you need at Megapets
Megapets stocks a wide range of bird seed, feeders, nesting boxes and suets to help you become a good friend to your feathered garden guests.