Whether you live in an urban area and want to ensure your wild feathered friends will feel welcome in your garden, or your country garden needs a greater variety of bird life, there are sure-fire ways of attracting more wild birds into your garden space. Don’t just wing it – follow these useful steps and you’ll soon be waking up to the twittering and chirping of wild birds.
The rule of feather for attracting wild birds into your garden is to make sure their basic needs are met. All birds need a variety of food – seeds, fruit and veggies, and suet – and an available supply of fresh water. And if they can enjoy eating, drinking and bathing while feeling safe from predators, they will definitely be back for more!
Water is life
By offering wild birds a source of water, yours is guaranteed to be their garden of choice. A birdbath not only gives birds a supply of drinking water, but also offers them a place to splash, clean and preen to their heart’s content. Keep the water in your birdbath clean and freshly topped up and make sure the birdbath is high enough off the ground so that the birds feel safe.
A variety of wild bird seed
Wild birds thrive on a variety of bird seeds including sunflower seeds, millet mixes, maize, grains, oats and other seed types. These seeds and grains offer high-energy food to meet the nutritional needs of birds – helping them to keep warm and providing enough energy to build their nests, escape predators, feed their fledgelings and be healthy and happy. Garden bird seed mixes offer all of the necessary grains that will bring wild birds back to your garden!
Delicious fruit variety
Just like pet birds, wild birds also love fresh fruit and veggies, which give them the necessary fibre, vitamins and minerals to supplement their diet. Mash up some bananas along with chunks of citrus and slices of apple, peach, pear and other soft fruits and berries. Fruit pieces can be scattered on open feeding trays or stake whole fruits in a handy fruit feeder.
A range of safe bird feeders
To attract garden birds into your garden, just one bird feeder is not going to cut it! Feeders generally consist of a storage space to keep uneaten seed fresh while birds feed from a relatively small opening. This does not allow for a large number of birds to feed at once, so you’ll need a few bird feeders spread around the garden. You may also notice that certain birds gravitate towards certain feeders, depending on what’s in them, how high off the ground they are or how close to the birdbath they are.
Insects and grubs for ground birds
To attract an even greater variety of birds to your garden, try an experiment: don’t rake up fallen leaves, bark and other natural tree and shrub debris. As this organic matter begins to break down, it creates its own little ecosystem on the ground, which attracts grubs, tiny insects and little worms. These, in turn, attract ground birds like hoopoes, robins, fiscals and thrushes that forage in the organic matter. Their presence is an indication that your garden is healthy and full of life.
Snacks for the birds
Wild birds just love the energy-dense treat of suet, which can provide them with a high-calorie snack that is especially important in the cold winter months. Suet feeders are a popular addition to other garden bird feeders – they are designed to hold suet balls and suet cakes and make this rich snack easily accessible to birds without the balls and blocks of suet falling on the ground. Some suet balls come enriched with other nutritional sources like seeds and/or mealworms. Choose the suet snack that best suits the kinds of wild birds that you want to attract or who are already in your garden.
Many wild birds also get a lot of their protein from insects, which makes dried mealworms the perfect snack to indulge in without foraging. Seed bells are just that – seeds, maize and millet jam-packed in a bell-shape, which can be strung up in the garden or near a birdbath to give wild birds a rewarding treat experience.
Create a fantastic, nutrient-rich and safe environment for wild birds to come and enjoy your garden, grab a cup of tea and enjoy the vibrant bird activity from the comfort of your patio or living room.
