What to feed birds
| 19:16 UK time, Friday, 23 October 2009
It was the RSPB's Feed the Birds Day on Saturday 24th October. They ran events up and down the country to help you learn the best ways to help the birds and wildlife in your garden this winter.
If you missed these, don't worry, just follow some of our advice...
Foraging is an extremely high priority for birds at this time of year. Winter foods are all about energy. Nuts and seeds are high in fat, and so too is the classic fat ball.
If your garden consistently acts as a good foraging ground now, there's a good chance you'll build up a regular set of local visitors over the winter and make a genuine difference to their survival prospects for the spring.
To learn what to feed which birds, and about different kinds of bird feeder, have a look at the BBC Breathing Places "Feed birds" page, or if you're feeling really creative download their "Make a bird feeder" poster.
There's also loads of information on this subject elsewhere on the web. Some of the best places to look are:
- The RSPB's top five tips are a great place to start
- BBC Breathing Places: informative pages on what to feed birds
- More detail from the RSPB
- Simple guidelines from the BTO
What do you find works in your garden? Tell us about your birds' likes and dislikes, and what's worked for you by posting a comment below.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~51~RS~)
Comments
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My neighbours and I were regular wild bird feeders until a few months agao when 2 brown rats arrived and started to eat the bits of food which fell onto the grass from the bird feeders. Within a few weeks there were ratlets, then more ratlets and we all became so spooked by all the rats that we stopped feeding the poor birds. I tried filling up one feeder last week, after 2 months break, to see if the rats had gone, only to see two absolutely enormous rats appear, so they are obviously still thriving somehow. We live in a country location on the edge of fields. Is there anything anyone can suggest to help the birdies?
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We keep being told that it will help the birds to feed them in the garden. I have been feeding for many years now but recently have found sick and dead greenfinches in my garden. The BTO told me that there is a disease going round which of course is spread to individuals at feeding stations. I have noticed similar episodes in past years amongst other birds. I disinfect the feeders regularly. So, I have stopped feeding the birds. I feel as if I am killing them. What should I do?
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I have a twelve year old son who lives, sleeps, breathes wildlife, a month ago he put out two feeders one with fat balls in and one with nuts in, we have seen no birds at all feed from them and no food has been eaten from them, why? We don't have any pets, we can't work it out. He is very upset about it, does anyone have a suggestion as how to attract them?
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We too have always feed the birds but I hate rats and we keep being told that bird food will encourage them into the gardens so what do we do. We also live in the country so there is pleanty of food out there for them, I know one of my dogd would chase them if they came into the garden but I realy don't want them in the first place.
We do get alot of birds so do we feed or not any ideas anybody?
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Re: Fat Balls.
Please take the fat balls out of any netting they come in before putting them out for the birds. The mesh can get tangled in bird beaks and feet.
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I share the dilemma raised by previous contributors. We have managed to establish a well used and regularly visited feeding station for the birds in our rural garden. However, I have a very real fear of rats, mice, etc. (silly I know but there you go). How do we continue to encourage the welcome visitors to our garden without laying on a feast for the ones we are less than happy to see?
Phobic Jo
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Could you please emphasise that high energy fatballs should be removed from the net bags before hanging them up for the birds. They can so easily get caught in the netting. So many people don't do this.
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Have a look on the Autumn Watch Message Board under the discussion headed "Rats in my garden", posted yesterday. There are plenty of rat stories to amuse you. I have a lone brown rat who clears up the spilled seed every day. We have named him Roland and I have got quite fond of him!So far no baby ratlets. Take heart that if the rats are well fed by eating the bird seed, they won't be looking for scraps in your kitchen. Apparently, we all live within 6 feet of a rat, and it is best we can see where they are!
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Whilst drivig from Chard in Somerset on the A30 towards Crewkerne, I saw up to 45 Buzzards in a field. Is this normal behaviour?
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poshketralwsm's son shouldnt worry. It was several seeks before the birds came to the feed put up in my garden. The birds will turn up. Even now, after knowing for ages that food is here, any new feeding device is ignored for a weeks or two. They must see all new things as possible traps. But nothing puts the pigeons off hoovering up what drops from the feeders!!!
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My bird feeding station was put up on December 27th 2006, and I named it after John Freeman Dovaston, a natural historian and poet who pioneered the use of bird feeders way back in the 1820s and 1930s.
I hung a peanut feeder, un-netted fat balls, one seed mix, a nyjer feeder and another feeder full of sunflower hearts on to the feeding station. My first visitor to the Dovaston Feeding Station came later that day - a Blue Tit.
The first Goldfinch visited on January 17th 2007.
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I started feeding my birds seriously in May this year. I have a peanut feeder, fat filled coconut shells, a seed mix, a feeder with sunflower hearts and one with black sunflowers, plus a nyjer seed feeder and I scatter meal worms on the ground and flower beds. I also have a separate table in a different place with various food on it. I also have plenty of water. I have a colony of over 30 sparrows, dunnocks, robin, wrens, a few lovely jackdaws, a handful of pigeons, a couple of collared doves, the odd blackbird, and of course starlings. What I have never had are blue tits/great tits or any finches. My garden has plenty of shrubs and trees with berries, my house is covered in ivy. I live in Lancashire in a semi rural location next to fields. Please tell me what else I can do to encourage the tits and finches.
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On a visit to that magnificent Autumn spectacular at Westonbirt Arboretum this week we found that the RSPB bird feeding station had been closed for a couple of months. There the parasite trichomoniasis is affecting (presumably killing) birds. Is it either the feed that kills or creating artificial places to feed where the birds are too close together?
Any tips for us at home please?
Thanks,
Dijohn
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Cocopops for birds?
On the message board there are several postings from people who feed Cocopops to the birds, and say the sparrows etc. go mad for them, and will eat them in preference to seed. Please can you tell me if this is a good or a bad thing to feed them? Chocolate coated rice? Could chocolate be poisonous to birds, just as it is to dogs?
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this last week,i've had three of the fat balls stolen from the string they were hanging from...also,the nut feeder has been got at and all the nuts emptied...a friend suggested that it may be a fox jumping up...what can i do to prevent this ? do i just need to get the ladder out and hang them where i won't be able to see the birds feeding,which would be a shame.
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We have spotted a family of four Bullfinches (three males and 1 female) in the hedgerow adjoining our small urban garden. How do we tempt them into the garden. We already have a nut feeder and fat ball hanging, which Great and Blue Tits (and magpies!!) use, is there anything else we can do to get the Bullfinches in? They seem to be feeding on bare branches - what are they getting at? We have never seen Bullfinches in the 'flesh' and are so excited to have so many so close to us!
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I live in a top floor maissonette with trees outside my window,i attached an old C/D Rack to my slopped widowsill not the best looking bird table but it works,I usualy just put bread & Oatmeal in it
I have had my regular visitors over the last 5 years mostly blue tits,chaffinch,house sparrow & Robins,in the summer i had birds with red and black heads.unsure what they were
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Once my friend and I were sitting on a bench in the park and we saw a big dog running around but than a bird sat on a trre and the dog saw it. So it started chassing the bird all around the park and than it just gave up what does this mean?
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My garden has no trees, shrubs, or borders; just a lawn and some wooden fencing. I have hung feeders from the fence posts and visiting birds can land on the fence, with a clear line of sight in all directions, to check for danger, then hop down by a few inches to feed.
The species list is a bit predictable, except for the lack of Great Tit, Coal Tit, Goldfinch (okay, no Nyger feeder!), Greenfinch, Dunnock, Magpie, Jay (no hedge cover!) and I lack table-feeding birds like pigeons (because I don't have a table, ho, ho).
It did take about two weeks for the birds to notice my feeders but, luckily, I am in a residential area where other people have feeders. I wonder whether people who live in isolated places away from town find it harder to attract the birds? They have to be travelling-by regularly already, in order to notice that a new food source is available.
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For bird feeding I have poles to hang feeders such as fat ball folders and a steel 4 port seed feeder for more capacity and resistance to squirrel gnawing. I fill it with sunflower hearts, they are easier for birds to eat without shells and are one type of seed so theres no waste.
I have a bird table which I put kitchen scraps which are grated cheese, cooked white rice, roast potatoes, fruit cake crumbs, etc. they are popular with the birds. I even put dried mealworms or seeds for different feeding positions. Unpopular food I've tried is peanuts, nyger seed and cheap seed mixes.
A favourite food I put out on the bird table and in a hanging basket is suet/fat blocks with fruit, insects or peanuts in them. They will be important in winter for storing energy on cold nights.
Seed mixtures are best on the ground so the birds can get their favoured seeds without wasting them and some birds such as Dunnocks and Chaffinches pefer ground feeding to feeders. To reduce the likelihood of rats remove any uneaten food later in the day and if you get cats, have secure cover nearby that cats can't use to hide in.
Planting shrubs and trees with berries, fruit and nuts can provide extra and sought after food for birds and other wildlife. Wildflowers such as thistles, teasels, dandelions, nettles etc. provide seeds for birds despite being called weeds. How about putting apples on the lawn or chopped up pears on the bird table? By doing these steps you provide important natural food they love.
Even when you are feeding birds, please remember to give them a DRINK. When we are thirsty, so are they so provide a bird bath for bathing and drinking and make sure it is cleaned and in a safe position. When the water freezes remember to defrost it and DO NOT use anti freeze as it will be fatal, just use boiling water to thaw it.
Notes: Clean all feeders and baths with suitable sprays and throw away mouldy food to prevent diseases. REMOVE all netting on fat balls to prevent the birds getting tangled and injured. Feed the birds all year round, don't feed whole peanuts loose especially spring and reduce food at quiet times.
All the different bird species I've seen in the garden to date are: Robin, Blue tit, Great tit, Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Jay, Magpie, Coal tit, Long Tailed tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Starling, Collared Dove, House Sparrow.
I hope this helps!
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in answer to exploding potato,we also thought we were feeding the birds to much,on our return from a 3 week holiday in scotland arrived home to many bodies around the garden.all seem to be finches,after a bumper crop of young this season ,it saddened me.please go to the rspb web site,it will tell you all about diseases in finches.they also have a survey form that they need you to fill in....kaz
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I have been feeding dried mealworms to the birds in our garden but find the starlings eat them all before any other bird gets a chance. is there any feeders made for mealworms.
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Kate you have mentioned on your show tonight that there is "no nutritional value " in bread for birds .this could stop many people feeding this very useful food to birds .We save all ours and friends stale bread and buy very cheap lard and spread this on the bread it is a very important fat boost for birds especially the very smaller ones.
Also soak the bread in old oil from chip pans and wipe the dinner plates with the bread too. please get this on to your show .
Barry
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I have been feeding the birds in my garden for a few years now and have always had many birds visiting my garden on a daily basis, all year round. In the past couple of weeks the birds seem to have disappeared. But on the plus side I do now have 4 hedgehogs that visit my garden every night. Could this have something to do with the disappearance of visiting birds?
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