Collaborative Post¦ Few things are quite as peaceful as watching the birds in the garden with a good cup of tea. A common misconception is that you can only really attract birds to your garden with food in the winter months. However, it is possible to encourage them to your garden all year round. Furthermore, you can attract your favourite kinds of birds when you Buy Food for Wild Birds that they enjoy the most!
Let’s take a look at some bird foods and the types of feathered friends they can bring to your garden:
Sunflower Hearts
Sunflower hearts (sunflower seed kernels) are a favourite of many wild birds. They contain lots of oil and protein as well as many vitamins, fantastic for birds’ general health and giving them energy.
Birds they attract: Blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, wood pigeons, collared doves, starlings, thrushes, robins, finches, house sparrows, siskins, thrushes, dunnocks, nuthatches and more
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds need cracking open to eat by birds with bigger beaks. They are great for birds as they are full of fat, protein and other nutrients.
Birds they attract: Greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, coal tits and great tits
Niger Seeds
Despite being very small, these seeds are packed with nutrition and energy-providing oil. Due to their small size, they need to be put in a feeder designed to hold them.
Birds they attract: Goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, siskins, redpolls, sparrows, doves and pigeons
Seed and Nut Mix
Seed and nut mix contains lots of essential nutrients for birds and can be used in feeders, on tables or on the ground.
Birds it attracts: Blackbirds, blackcaps, blue tits, bramblings, bullfinches, chaffinches, greenfinches, coal tits, dunnocks, gold crests, great tits, house sparrows, tree sparrows, nuthatches, pie wagtails, robins, siskins, song thrushes, starlings, woodpeckers and wrens
Flutter Butter
Flutter Butter is a peanut butter made especially for birds. It has less salt than our peanut butter as it’s not good for birds and it gives them a great protein boost.
Birds it attracts: Robins, blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, nuthatches , sparrows and finches
Mealworms
Mealworms contain protein, fat many vitamins and minerals and fibre. They’re particularly useful for birds during the breeding season and they feed them to their chicks as they’re easy to digest. Putting them on the ground and higher up on tables and in feeders will attract different birds.
Birds they attract: Robins, blackbirds, sparrows, blue tits, great tits, wrens, dunnocks, song thrushes, nuthatches and more
Fat Balls
Fat balls are particularly helpful for helping birds survive during the cold winter months as they are packed with fats as a high-calorie energy source for birds. They also contain lots of nutrients.
Birds they attract: Blue tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, house sparrows, starlings, chaffinches, robins, dunnocks and nuthatches
Other Tips
Kent Wildlife Trust have lots of helpful tips including:
- Keeping food away from predators. Avoid putting food near shrubs or hedgerows, as cats can easily pounce and attack from behind them
- Keeping your feeders clean to avoid the spread of diseases. If you see a sick bird on a feeder, it needs to be cleaned
- Only putting out what gets eaten – you don’t want to encourage pests such as rats to your garden
Cover photo of a nuthatch using a bird feeder by Lee Edwards on Unsplash