If you want to fill your garden with beautiful birds, you have to do more than sprinkle a few breadcrumbs on the lawn. Just like us, birds can be picky eaters – and different species like different foods. Boost your chances of attracting your favourite birds by following this simple bird food guide.
Robins, blackbirds, goldfinches and other wild birds are a wonderful addition to any garden and what tempts them in there in the first place - and keeps them coming back - is the range of bird foodon offer.
But birds can be picky eaters! Some are vegetarian whereas others eat insects; some like one seed but not another and others will eat almost anything!
They also feed in different ways. Some birds are at home on hanging seed feeders, whilst others can’t manage the gymnastics involved in that and prefer to feed from the ground or bird tables.
So boost your chances of attracting your favourite birds by following the simple bird food guide below.
Blackbirds
Favourite Food: worms, insects, fruit, berries and suet products
How they feed: from the ground or bird tables
What to put out: dried mealworms; ‘ground blend’ bird food mixes (usually containing fruit and suet); suet pellets (insect or fruit flavour); fat balls (crumble these first to make them easier to peck at).
Robins
Favourite Food: robins love insects and worms but also eat fruit and seeds. In winter, they devour fat products to give them the energy to survive the cold.
How they feed: robins are ground feeders by nature but are now often seen on hanging seed feeders, which they have learnt to use.
What to put out: dried mealworms, insect suet pellets, fat balls (crumbled on ground or hanging in special feeder), bird seed mixes (‘ground’ or ‘feeder’ blend)
Tits
Favourite Food: great tits and blue tits are not fussy eaters and will eat a wide range of insects, seeds, fruit, berries, nuts and kitchen scraps.
How they feed: they are very acrobatic and happily hang every which way on hanging seed feeders.
What to put out: peanuts, bird food mixes, fat balls and sunflower hearts in hanging feeders. Kitchen scraps (fat, fruit, meat) on bird tables.
House Sparrows
Favourite Food: sparrows eat a wide variety of seeds and berries. They also like kitchen scraps.
How they feed: sparrows are ground feeders.
What to put out: ‘ground blend’ bird food mixes, sunflower hearts, suet pellets. Kitchen scraps (fruit, fat)
Goldfinches
Favourite Food: the beautifully-coloured goldfinch loves niger seed more than anything else. Niger (or thistle) seed is a tiny, black energy-rich seed.
How they feed: goldfinches feed from hanging feeders. As niger seed is so tiny, it has to be fed from a special hanging feeder, with very small feeding ports.
What to put out: niger seed!
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Favourite Food: these stunning birds love insects and larvae, which they extract from under the bark of trees. In winter, they feed on seeds, berries, nuts and suet products.
How they feed: from hanging feeders
What to put out: peanuts, fat balls, sunflower seeds and hearts.
And don’t forget, whatever the weather, garden birds need fresh water for drinking and bathing, so keep a dish topped up with a regular supply.
For more information about the right bird food for popular garden birds, visit www.feedyourbirds.co.uk/bird-finder.
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