How to Lure the Birds

Published in In The Media by Nottingham Evening Post (post) on Saturday, 8th November 1997

Millions of Britons will enjoy feeding birds in their gardens this winter. Here, the experts tell MARK PATTERSON about the rights and wrongs of looking after your feathered visitors in the cold months ahead.

If, like two thirds of Britain's population, you will feed and water birds in your garden this winter, the experts have this advice - keep the expense down!

"The main problem is that people spend too much money on it," says Mike Everett, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. "Some of these bird tables you can buy at garden centres are fiendishly expensive. They've got little houses on top and they are not what birds want. All they need is a simple platform with a roof over it to keep the wet off, and some drainage."

Vanity, of course, may tempt you to spend lavish sums on a 'rustic' style bird table to complement your Winter garden.

From the birds' point of view, however, this is not a good move because the knobbly supporting post provides claw holds for prowling cats. The RSPB also advises that pretty tables made of silver birch logs rot rapidly.

Other tables with roofs also have their faults. Although it offers some protection from the elements, a roof can deter shy and larger species from visiting.

As Mr Everett observes: "Birds aren't really great appreciators of garden architecture."

If you're simply spreading food on the ground, space it in different places so that there is less competition between birds. If there is snow, clear a space for a small feeding area.

Regardless of exactly how you feed your visiting feathered friends, it is a fact that every year millions of people place food and water in their gardens out of the goodness of their hearts.

The period between October and April is the time to do so.

Feeding and watering helps birds survive the hard winter months when natural food is scarce and helps ensure they are in good breeding condition for spring.

And of course, gardeners enjoy the pleasure of having birds hopping around and feeding a few feet from their kitchen windows. A successful feeding strategy could lead to regular visits by starlings, house sparrows, blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, robins, green finches, collared doves, dunnocks, song thrushes and chaffinches.

"The thing is, once you've started feeding them, you've got to carry on because birds get used to coming to the garden," says Dave Goodwin, a Nottingham RSPB member who feeds birds in the small back garden of his semidetached home in St Ann's. "But it can be expensive. We've got feeders hanging from a buddleia and my wife is constantly filling them up. I saw a sparrowhawk the other day. It was obviously after the sparrows who had been after the nuts and things. You don't often see them this close to town."

Post Picture 2

DINNER TIME: Janet Goodwin makes sure her
birdfeeders are secure at her St Ann's home

POSTPHOTO 978174/13A

 

Post Picture 1

GARDEN SYMPHONY: The garden birds
accompany Janet while she does the washing up

POSTPHOTO 978174/2

Mr Goodwin has a bird table and an upturned dustbin lid which acts as a bird bath. There is also a garden pond. "You see them hopping round the pond for an hour or so before they fly off."

Natural winter food from the garden can be provided by a variety of trees and shrubs such as alder, firethorn and ivy. Evergreens are also important in winter because they provide cover for nesting and roosting. However, the seemingly simple acts of feeding and watering by human hand have their pitfalls.

"We tell people to keep things clean and to clear up rotting bits of food," says Mr Everett. "It's important to clean up every now and then. Rotting food is not very nice for people or birds and it can also attract rats. They're not very nice things to have around anyway, but one of the diseases they can pass on is salmonella which can cause drastic death rates among bird populations."

In severe weather, put food out twice a day - early morning and early afternoon.

Mr Goodwin has this advice: "Don't use dessicated coconut because if it gets wet, it swells up and can kill a bird."

Of course it is essential that birds also get water for drinking and bathing. Washing is essential for them to maintain the health of their feathers.

And although it is unlikely that anybody would be stupid enough to make this mistake today, Mr Everett repeats the advice that you should never put anti-freeze in birds' water to stop it freezing.

One tip is to line a bird bath with a thick polythene sheet so that ice can get removed more easily.

  • The RSPB produces a number of leaflets on gardens and birds. Nottingham RSPB meets at the YMCA, Shakespeare Street, on the first Wednesday of the month. Contact Mr Goodwin on 9120796.

what's on the menu?
  • Brown and white bread crumbs - moistened
  • Pastry
  • Cooked white and brown rice (no salt added)
  • Dry porridge oats or coarse oatmeal
  • Fat, including suet
  • Bacon rind, but not if bacon is very salty
  • Grated cheese
  • Bones with some fat or meal attached
  • Potatoes, baked - cold and opened - roast or mashed
  • Raisins and Sultanas
  • Apples, cut in half or quarters
  • Bird Cake
  • Bird Seed
  • Peanuts (but only in a mesh container)
  • Coconut (but not dried)
  • Mealworms
BIRD'S DINING TABLE
Bird Table Picture

Ideally, your garden bird table should be placed:

  • Somewhere quiet, away from traffic. The back garden is better than the front.
  • In the open and in a safe place, so that birds can see they are safe from predators.
  • Somewhere sheltered so that it gets neither too much sun or too much cold wind.
  • Near a lookout point, such as a bush around two metres away so birds can perch and have a look round before feeding.
  • Off the ground - on a post, hung from a branch or even from a washing line. However, blackbirds, thrushes and chaffinches prefer to feed on the ground.