One of the best things about the garden is sharing it with wildlife. Birds are a particular favourite and you could spend hours looking out for all the different species.

To encourage more birds in your garden this year, we’ve put together a quick guide on how to feed our flying friends!

What should you feed them?

‍Fruit – Birds love to snack on fruit like apples. Grate apples to include in our bird feed mix or simply cut them in half, hang them from a tree and let the birds enjoy the fleshy fruit. Dried fruit such as currants are also a favourite. If you are feeding birds dried fruit be sure to soak it first!

‍Peanuts – Give your garden friends a treat with a tasty meal of peanuts or peanut butter. Please check that the peanuts and nut butter is unsalted and unroasted, as salt will dehydrate birds.

‍Suet & Lard – This helps to hold bird food cakes together and provides much needed fat and energy during the winter.

‍Seeds – There are plenty of seeds to choose from when making your bird food mix and certain seeds will attract certain species. Here is a quick list to give you an example of some of the birds you can attract into your garden with certain seeds:

• Safflower – bluetits
• Shelled and cracked corn – crows, ravens, jays
• Peanuts – jays, crows, bluetits, woodpecker

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Foods to avoid
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Be careful when feeding birds, not all food agrees with them. Stay away from milk and old stale bread. Milk cannot be digested and old stale bread brings no nutritional value, with some bread moulds being dangerous to birds.

Make a bird feed cake

Follow this recipe to make some delicious treats for the birds in your garden:

• Mix your dry ingredients together in a bowl
• Melt lard or suet in a pan
• Add dry ingredients to melted lard/suet
• Find an old yoghurt pot and make a hole in the base. Thread string through the hole and tie a knot to secure.
• Pour the mix into the yoghurt pot and leave in the fridge overnight to set
• Cut carefully around the pot to remove it from your mixture
• Tie onto a tree!