Trying to find enough food to keep going through the cold northern winter is so tough that many of the birds we think of as British don\u2019t even try. They fly off to warmer regions where there is plenty of food, returning in the spring when conditions are more suitable: plants are growing and prey is in abundance.<\/p>\n
For those that stay, the battle for survival really begins in earnest in December, by which time the autumn berries are long gone and the temperatures are getting low.\u00a0 The winter cold forces birds to use up precious food and fat reserves to maintain their high (43\u00b0C) body temperature.\u00a0 It\u2019s no coincidence that the cheery robins on Christmas cards look like feathery tennis balls: they\u2019re doing everything they can to reduce their rate of heat loss, fluffing their feathers to trap warm air next to their skin.<\/p>\n
Providing supplementary food and water for your local birds at this difficult time of year can significantly improve their chances of survival.\u00a0 You have probably heard this before, feeding birds is a popular pastime in Britain with regular campaigns organised by Animal Welfare charities.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a good chance that you are already be a regular and enthusiastic bird helper.\u00a0 So, why am I writing about it?\u00a0 Well, mainly because I think that bird feeding raises some interesting questions about birds and the state of our countryside, which are well worth a closer look.\u00a0 Questions like:<\/p>\n
Think back in time, there haven\u2019t always been humans around to feed the birds.\u00a0 Any bird that has adapted to survive the winter did so long ago and has been doing fine for hundreds of thousands of years.\u00a0 Why do they need help now?\u00a0 The answer is actually in the question.\u00a0 Humans have made, and continue to make huge changes to the countryside that affect wildlife.\u00a0 Areas that were originally packed full of natural food are now given over to farmland that only provides food for us, planted with alien trees that don\u2019t provide anything for British animals or covered in concrete.\u00a0 We have destroyed vast areas of, once suitable, bird habitat in the name of progress.\u00a0 This destruction continues as we continue to demand cheap food, out of town shopping centres and bigger motorways.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t make up for the wholesale destruction of bird habitat such as occurs when hedgerows and woodlands are removed, land is given over to intensive farming, and towns are built.\u00a0 Nationally, populations of many bird species are declining: starlings, sparrows, nightingales, skylarks\u2026 there is a long list of once common birds that are in decline.\u00a0 We can only hope to reverse these declines if we make big changes to the way we treat the countryside.\u00a0 In the meantime, there are lots of things we can do to help, and one of them is, you guessed it.\u00a0 Feeding.\u00a0 Even in city centres, there are quite large populations of birds and a variety of species do very well.\u00a0 Sadly, urban areas provide plenty of feeding opportunities during the summer, but not many during the winter.\u00a0 If you want to see lots of birds during the summer, you need to help out when there\u2019s no natural food around.<\/p>\n
This is a concern for many people.\u00a0 There is, after all, a chance that your local birds may come to depend on your feeding efforts and would starve if you stopped.\u00a0 Surely, if the birds were left to fend for themselves,\u00a0 nature will find its balance?\u00a0 There have been a number of experiments that have attempted to answer this question.\u00a0 In rural areas, where feed provided by humans is an easy alternative to naturally available food, it has been found that birds can switch back to natural food without any problem if the humans stop helping.\u00a0 In urban areas it has been shown that supplemental feeding helps keep the bird population much higher than it would naturally be.\u00a0 However, remember that the lack of food during the winter in urban areas is the result of human action in the first place.\u00a0 Careful observation of urban birdfeeders has shown that birds rarely depend on a single feeding station but travel between a number of different feeders within their home range or territory.\u00a0 This has two advantages: firstly, when you start feeding, it wont take the local birds long to find your feeder and provide you with a wonderful spectacle; secondly, if you stop for any reason, your garden wont suddenly be filled with starving birds, they\u2019ll just switch their attention to another feeder down the road.<\/p>\n
If I\u2019ve convinced you to get feeding, great.\u00a0 This is how you start.\u00a0 First, you need to think about where you\u2019re going to put your food.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve got the room (and the cash), a bird table is best as this can be used to serve a variety of food and will keep it off the ground where many birds, quite reasonably given the number of cats that roam the average street, fear to feed.\u00a0 The best bird tables have a roof \u2013 to keep the food dry and are easy to wipe clean, wash and disinfect.\u00a0 Avoid tables that are overly ornate as these are often difficult to fly onto or fly away from, great for the cats, not so great for birds.\u00a0 Where you site a bird table is also important.\u00a0 Birds that have just stuffed themselves full of tasty treats are slower to take to the air than hungry birds, so give them a head start by placing your table in the open \u2013 clear of trees and bushes.\u00a0 This will allow your avian diners see approaching danger before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
If a bird table is too big an investment, why not try using a simple peanut feeder or make fatballs (see below) that can easily be hung from trees, washing lines or a simple stand.\u00a0 Once again, if you\u2019re buying a feeder, try and think like a bird: avoid ornate and fiddly designs that are difficult to fly onto easily and difficult to get away from in a hurry.<\/p>\n
Although birds will eagerly scoff bread scraps, bread is more filling than it is nutritious and there are way better foods.\u00a0 Try to stick to things with lots of fat in, like nuts and lard.\u00a0 Different people report varying degrees of success with different foods: uncooked pastry, cheese, melon seeds, jacket potatoes, minced raw meat and stale cake are all popular.\u00a0 Pretty much anything that isn’t too salty or spicy will do fine.<\/p>\n
You need to be careful of salt, as it can kill small birds in excess.\u00a0 Never put out bacon, salted peanuts or last night\u2019s curry.\u00a0 On the nut front, unsalted peanuts are a real winner, but rotten fruit, coconut (not desiccated, use only coconut in the shell) and Brazil nuts are also popular.<\/p>\n
If you decide to buy some custom-made bird food, steer clear of brands that contain a large proportion of grain.\u00a0 A recent experiment by my uncle involved switching between food made principally of a sunflower\/peanut mix and a cheaper food that contained high levels of grain.\u00a0 He found that all the birds except Bluetits and pigeons turned their noses (beaks) up at the grain.\u00a0 He has gone back to the original mix, but will repeat the experiment when the birds get hungrier to see if that makes them less fussy.<\/p>\n
Peanuts can pose a health hazard to your garden birds in two ways:<\/p>\n