Feeding garden birds

Feeding garden birds is a great way to get closer to wildlife and offer just a bit of help to species that may be struggling, particularly through the harsh winter months.

Of course, the best way to support wildlife is to provide good habitat so that they can take care of themselves, but as most of us only have responsibility for small plots of land, there’s a distinct limit to the amount of good habitat we can actually provide. My garden is a bit of a brown jungle at this time of the year, with plenty of wildflower seeds still on the go, and hiding places for all sorts of bugs and beasties that might make a tasty snack for any creature that way inclined. But I still feed the birds, particularly when the harsher weather kicks in.

The problem for birds in winter is actually not so much the cold, it’s the long nights. Most garden birds can only forage during the hours of daylight, and with fewer hours of daylight on offer, they have to work that much harder to track down the calories they need to survive the hours of darkness. Their feathers might be brilliant insulators, but mortality rates can still be high when there’s not enough food to keep them going. This problem is compounded when the ground is frozen or under snow.

So feeding the birds is a great idea, and species like house sparrows, whose numbers have dropped by up to 90% in some places in just a few decades, and starlings, which have experienced a similar decline, will really appreciate the help.

Next up, my top five bird foods!

#feedthebirds #sparrows #starlings #wildlife