My top five bird foods

Birds in the wild eat a huge variety of foods. So if you want to feed the birds in your garden, the best thing you can do is try to replicate some of that range of natural diet, whether that’s insects, seeds or fruit. There are dozens, probably hundreds, of different bird foods that you can buy, from an industry said to be worth around £200m annually. Whether that’s true or not, you can certainly break the bank buying bird food and all the many feeders sold to serve it in, particularly once your neighbourhood feathered friends figure out that you’re open for business. But it doesn’t need to be excruciating expensive, and the top five bird foods I serve are certainly well within my budget:

Black sunflower seeds Having tried various seed mixes over the years, I always come back to serving black sunflower seeds. They’re inexpensive in bulk, and hugely popular with a range of species, such as house sparrows, chaffinches, greenfinches and tits. They’re also rich in oils, which the birds need to keep going. They are messy, as you end up with all the seed coatings lying all over the place. But these do break down into the soil eventually, or can be scooped up and popped into a compost bin if they bother you. Or you can buy the hearts only, but they’re very expensive! Nyjer seeds More of a specialist seed this one, and one that I only really started putting out seriously a few years ago. Nyjer is the seed of the thistle plant, and it’s tiny when compared to the black sunflowers, so you need a specialist feeder with very small holes. It’s incredibly popular with goldfinches, siskins and redpolls, and this year, I can barely keep up with the demand! It’s even more messy than the black sunflower seeds, but if you want entertained by a different range of colourful birds, then nyjer is for you!

Fat Sold variously in pellets, blocks, balls and melted into containers like coconuts, fat is a really good thing to serve birds when it’s very cold outside. It particularly appeals to tits, robins and starlings, but it can also attract crows and jackdaws. Fat products can be a bit messy to handle, because it’s sticky and slippery and - well it’s fat what do you expect! But a lot of bird food providers make it easier with good packaging and ready to hang products. Whatever you do, don’t buy fat balls in those mesh bags, as birds can get their feet caught. If you have these, cut the mesh off before putting the balls out. You can make your own fat feeders quite easily and cheaply http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/families/children/makeanddo/activities/birdcake.aspx Mealworms These are a bit pricier, but I don’t tend to feed them in great quantity, so a big bag lasts a long time. Mealworms are slightly freaky to put out, as even though they’re dried, they move around like they’re alive! But robins, blackbirds, starlings and wrens love them. I put mine in a little ground feeder, but you could spread them around if you wanted. I also feed these to hedgehogs in the summer. Apples I’ve tried various fruit on birds through the years: pears, bananas, grapes. But the thing that goes down best is apples. I don’t tend to buy apples specially, but there are always a few bashed apples in a pack, and these go straight out down the garden. I guess it’s the most natural food that I could serve! They’re most popular with blackbirds, though if you get thrushes in your garden they’ll eat apples too. It’s really funny to see that moment when a blackbird clocks a fresh apple and does a sprint over to it as though it’s the best thing its ever seen!

Next up, feeding the birds, issues and keeping it clean...