Gardener’s Tips and Advice: Winter Bird Care Kindly supplied by George at Mo-Lawn/Stockbridge Nursery t: 821 414
Winter is a tough time for wild birds. They don’t hibernate like most animals and have to fend for themselves over the hard, cold months of the winter. There is little natural food around - the ground is frozen, insects are scarce and any autumn berries and seeds essential to garden birds are eventually eaten or destroyed by the weather. The days are also shorter meaning there is less time for them to look for food and the temperatures are so cold that wild birds have to expend extra energy fluffing up their feathers just to stay warm.
Winter care for garden birds is vital, and one of the most important things we can do when feeding birds in winter is to provide as wide a variety of food as possible - quite simply, the wider the range, the more species will visit. Different birds like different foods and putting out as many types as we can will attract a host of different species to our gardens. Robins love meal worms, tits and nuthatches adore peanuts, while the favorite food of finches are the distinctive, black nyger seeds that require their own specific seed feeder. Fat balls and cakes are perfect for feeding birds in winter, full of the fat and high calories warm blooded wild birds need to get them through the cold weather. If they come in mesh bags take these off first, as birds can get tangled in them, or make your own, by adding a range of seeds, nuts and cheese to suet or lard.
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When buying food, make sure the food is of a high quality. Birds need high-energy food to sustain them through the cold days and freezing nights and cheaper foods are often bulked out with nutrient poor grains like barley or large pulses like lentils and beans, which only the very large birds can eat.
Another top tip when feeding birds in winter is that they also have different ways of eating - not all birds feed the same way. Blackbirds and wrens for example, are ground feeders that prefer to eat straight from the lawn or border, whereas wild birds such as tits and finches favor hanging feeders. So, when considering wild bird care, try and include a range of feeders in your garden, such as a bird table, some hanging feeders in trees or on a pole pushed in to the lawn or border and remember to scatter some food on the lawn too - unless you have cats.
Finally, from a nursery perspective, spare a thought for birds when planting. Although winter care for garden birds is important, remember to provide lots of cover and structure for them to use throughout the year, with plants like ivy and consider berry bearing plants like pernettya, pyracantha and rowan and those with seed heads, like teasel or if you garden is sheltered Echinacea - all will go a long way in helping them keep going through the long, cold days of winter.
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