Feed the Birds

As birds may face food shortages throughout the year, it’s critical to keep your tables, feeders, and bird baths filled at all times. If a bird’s food source becomes limited, they may look for solace in a garden that has provided fresh water and food for them to eat.

There are certain offerings you can provide to various types of birds in your garden:

Robin

Robins love worms and can often be seen digging them up on a lawn or in plant pots, but they can also benefit from a little bit of support, particularly during the winter. Small seeds, crushed peanuts, and sunflower hearts are a great source of energy for robins and a healthy handful of mealworms for protein.

Collared Dove

A common visitor to the UK garden, the Collared Dove, will feed nearly entirely on seeds and grains. When leaving food out for Collared Doves, make sure there is a platform for them to feed upon, like a feeding tray or bird table. This is so they can be steady as they enjoy their meal.

Blackbird

The sight of a blackbird in the garden isn’t unusual, and their song is one of the most frequent to be heard early in the morning. As omnivores, the diet of a blackbird is quite broad, so there’s a lot you can feed them. Blackbirds will often forage for worms, caterpillars, and snails themselves, but they also enjoy eating berries, flaked maize, and suet fat balls.

Goldfinch

Goldfinches can usually be attracted to bird feeders in the garden as their natural sources are slowly deteriorating. Offering foods such as Niger seeds and sunflower hearts will encourage Goldfinches to visit. The numbers of Goldfinches in the UK have dramatically increased in the past decade, and it’s thought that the introduction of bird feeders has had an immense effect on this.

Great Tit

The diet of the Great Tit is usually driven by the seasons and what they can find when rummaging.

Insects and caterpillars are a great source of food for them, particularly when they have young chicks to feed. However, when the natural food supply has disappeared, they will visit gardens to find sunflower hearts, peanuts, or suet fat balls during winter.

Chaffinch

The Chaffinch, as a ground-feeder, will usually appear in the garden to collect any insects it can find (caterpillars are a favourite). You may also see it tidying up after other birds, collecting any fallen seeds or fruit at the base of the bird table. Keep mowing your lawn for easy access to insects to increase your chances of enticing them into your garden.

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