Fat balls are a great source of winter energy for garden birds
Different birds have different diets so it is important to understand how to best cater for the feathered friends in your garden. As a result, there are several options available to provide your garden birds with sustenance.
To help you choose the right food for the birds in your garden, we’ve put together this guide to bird food, followed by a list of garden birds and their favourite foods.
Bird seed
In order to attract and cater for a wide variety of birds; use seed mixes that contain combinations of peanuts, sunflower seeds, pinhead oatmeal, millet and flaked maize.
Some mixes contain bulky foods such as wheat and barley grains or split peas, beans and lentils. These should be avoided as they can only be eaten by larger birds who will dominate the feeding site, meaning smaller birds won’t be able to feed.
A better choice and a very popular option among garden birds are black sunflower seeds. They have a slightly higher energy content than regular, striped, sunflower seed as they contain more oil. Also look out for sunflower hearts, which are a garden bird staple.
Goldfinches are particularly partial to niger (sometimes spelled nyjer), which is quite a bit smaller than most other bird seeds, so you will need to use a special feeder to stop it falling through wider mesh.
Peanuts
Lots of birds love peanuts as they are an excellent source of fat and energy. They’re great for keeping birds going during the colder months when less food is available. You can buy peanuts crushed or flaked, which robins and dunnocks and other smaller birds will find easier to eat. Or you can string up a line of monkey nuts for acrobatic blue tits to feed on.
Loose nuts are fine for bird tables but avoid using peanuts that humans often eat, such as salted or dry roasted varieties. The RSPB also warns of peanuts that contain aflatoxin, which is a natural toxin that can kill birds.
Fat balls
During the winter months garden birds will certainly appreciate added fat to their diet. The best example being fat or suet balls that you can buy at most garden centres and pet shops. Smaller birds like blue tits will thank you for the seasonal help, as the added fat will provide energy and insulation for when the temperature drops.
Fat balls often come in a fine mesh, which you should remove and discard as the mesh can trap bird’s feet and cause injury. Instead place them in a feeder suspended from a string, or place them on a bird table.
Do not use fat from cooking. The mixture of meat juices and fat can lead to a greasier consistency and smearing on the bird’s feathers. The RSPB warn of cooking fat’s potential for promoting bacterial growth. However, lard and beef suet on their own are perfectly fine as they are pure fats that won’t smear or breed bacteria.
Cheese
Another source of fat for your birds is grated cheese, which robins will definitely approve of.
Coconut
Always use fresh coconut and leave it in the shell for the birds to peck at. This is another tasty source of fat and is easy to put out, just chop the coconut in half, drain the water and leave for the birds. Don’t use dessicated coconut as it can swell after digestion and kill garden birds.
Mealworms
Plenty of birds are partial to live foods like mealworms. These can be used as feed throughout the year and may attract birds such as pied wagtails, wrens and treecreepers. Popular birds like robins and blue tits will also be appreciative.
Rice
Cooked rice will be eaten by all birds who visit your garden but avoid giving rice that has been salted. Larger birds like wood pigeons and collared doves will also eat uncooked rice, but they are an exception.
Plants and bushes
As well as providing food it is also a good idea to plant fruit trees and natural food producing plants in your garden such as thistles, rowan and alder. Avoid using insecticides and herbicides.
Favourite foods
To help you cater for the birds in your garden, we’ve listed the UK’s top ten common garden birds along with their favourite foods:
Sparrow: Seeds, berries, nuts and kitchen scraps.
Blackbird: Insects, worms.
Starling: Insects, worms, snails, berries, fruit, kitchen scraps.
Blue tit: Insects, caterpillars, seeds, nuts. Particularly partial to fats in the autumn and winter months.
Chaffinch: Insects and seeds.
Woodpigeon: Crops, buds, shoots, seeds, nuts and berries.
Robin: Worms, seeds, fruits and insects.
Great tit: Nuts and seeds, sunflower hearts, insects.
Collared dove: Seeds and grain.
Gold finch: Seeds and insects.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
This article is very helpful and I love to think that we humans who are toasty and warm in our houses can help creatures who are having a harder Winter. It was especially helpful to read that it’s not a good idea to use cooking fat to make bird food. I read elsewhere that it was ok but since reading this I won’t be feeding birds that!
Thanks