RSPB’s Top Tips For Creating Bird Food Sources

RSPB’s Tom Waters outlines some great ways to help our feathered friends this month

Spring has definitely arrived, and the garden will soon become alive with the coming and going of busy birds building nests. There are many things you can do to help our feathered friends at this exciting but stressful time for them. Follow these tips to turn your allotment or garden into a haven for wildlife.

How you can help

Providing you already have a nest box set up on your plot, you can now leave piles of nesting material in suitable places. Pet and human hair can be put out for birds on lawns or in containers, which they will take to create a cosy home to bring up their brood. Don’t offer any tumble dryer lint as it crumbles and may contain harmful residues from detergents.

If the weather is dry when the swallows and house martins return in April or May, soak a patch of mud with water to create an opportunity for these birds to repair old or build new homes in your area. You can also provide ceramic nesting cups under the eaves of your house to encourage these species to colonise the area. Remember that all active nests are protected by law, so they must be left alone until the fledglings have departed.

Provide food and water

Feeding is also very important during the nesting season, and high energy foods will be needed to help those exhausted parents as well as growing young. Mealworms are a great source of protein and best put out live, but if you only have dry ones it’s a good idea to give them a soak to provide chicks with a source of moisture. During the breeding season, only put out peanuts in metal mesh feeders – this means that birds cannot take whole nuts, which can potentially choke their young. Avoid the use nylon mesh bags, as they can trap the feet of these animals. Suet sprinkles and fat cakes are useful, but in hot weather these can melt and cause ‘smearing’, which damages the protective layer of plumage on these creatures, so be sure to keep an eye on this source.

It is good to provide a regular supply of clean water for birds to drink and bathe in. Feeders should be supplementary to their natural diet, but seeds like sunflower hearts provide a great boost of energy to tits, robins and finches. There are different mixes which can be specifically tailored to feeders, bird tables and ground feeding, so be sure to pick one that suits you. The better products contain plenty of flaked maize, sunflower seeds, and peanut granules.

Small seeds, such as millet, attract mostly house sparrows, dunnocks, finches, reed buntings and collared doves, while flaked maize is taken readily by blackbirds. Tits and greenfinches favour peanuts and sunflower seeds. Pinhead oatmeal is excellent for many birds, but avoid mixtures that have split peas, beans, dried rice or lentils as only the large species can eat them dry. For more information on how to give nature a home where you live, go to rspb.org.uk/homes

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