How to Attract Birds To Your Garden

DATE : 18 February, 2020 by Christina TAG: Wildlife Gardening

Feb

Like most people with busy lives I didn't notice I didn't have any birds visiting my bare garden until I watched a wildlife program on TV. Just like a lot of other people in Britain I decided to do something about it. My first attempt fell flat on it's face. I put the bird food out but they didn't come. I added some small bushes, and I was eventually rewarded with a small variety of birds visiting on a daily basis. I then moved to a village between farmland and forest, it was far easier attracting the birds this time around but adding certain things to my garden has seen an even wider diversity of birds, insects, bees, wasps, deer and hedgehogs.

I'm no expert on birds, but this is what I did to successfully attract birds to my garden, if I can do it anyone can.

10 tips to getting birds into your garden.

Bullfinch

1. Trees, bushes, shrubs and flowers - hiding and feeding

The birds didn't come into my town garden until I had bushes and a few ground covering plants. It took two years for the shrubs to create enough cover before the birds became comfortable staying and using the feeders.

When I moved to a village which is situated between forest and farmland I figured it was going to be a lot easier encouraging the birds to use my garden, which at the time was bare, half paved, half grass with one berry bush. However, my neighbours had large trees running from the border of my back garden through to the tiny forest we back onto, creating a corridor the birds and other wildlife can travel through.

Wren

I put bird feeders as close to my neighbours trees as possible, a couple of days later the birds started to arrive.

I then added large and small evergreen bushes (laurels), flowering and fruiting bushes, fruit trees and ground covering flowers. I've recently added blackthorn, hawthorn, dog rose and field maples, but they are all tiny so it's going to be a while before I know if the wildlife prefer these.

Some birds are shy others quite bold, but all birds need somewhere they can quickly hide from predators. I've found birds tend to stick with feeders that are closest to trees and bushes, but once there are too many birds on them, they will move to feeders that are out in the open or near to windows.

bluetits feeding

2. Feeders and food

I have made lots of mistakes with feeders and bird food. I now stick to sunflower hearts, peanuts, fat balls, buggy bites, apples, grapes, strawberries and meal worms. This has reduced the amount of waste as the birds really seem to like these things and eat everything so there is nothing left to entice rodents into the garden.

Redpoll feeding

I've had problems with squirrels breaking my feeders, but a large baffler seems to have worked. After three years they still haven't worked out how to get over it, but it does have to be placed at the right height otherwise they can jump over it when it is too low. If you are going to try one and the squirrels are getting over it, then keep moving it up an inch or two until it works.

The feeders I have found to be the best are plastic tubes with metal perches where everything unclips for easy cleaning.

Blackbird bathing

3. Water

After eating all those dry seeds, birds will really appreciate a nice bowl of water. They also like to bath in it which helps to keep their feathers in top condition. They really don't care how fancy the bird bath is, but it is important to remember to keep it clean to cut down on the spread of diseases.

Blackcap and Chaffinch bathing

4. Keep it clean

Birds carry diseases that can be passed to other birds when they are in close proximity to each other, but especially when they are eating from the same source the disease can get left behind on the food or in the water. Reduce the risk of spreading diseases by keeping everything clean. Clear away any leftovers and move feeders to different places in the garden on a regular basis, giving the ground time to recover from all that foot fall, poop and dropped seed.

5. Keeping Warm and Breeding

Birds will use bird boxes in the winter to get out of the cold, wind, rain and snow. In the spring they will be used for nesting. Trees and shrubs also make good places for birds to nest.

Bluetit eating catapillar

6. Natural food

Providing the right plants that will provide birds with natural food is ideal. I often have Goldfinches visiting our cornflowers for the seeds they produce. Waxwings love the Rowan tree berries. Sparrows, blackbirds, wood pigeon and the majority of the tit family enjoy pyracantha berries, although I've noticed the yellow berry variety is getting ignored, whereas the red and orange berry bush are cleared quickly.

Female Blackcap in Ivy

7. Insect friendly plants

Then there are the birds such as wrens that like eating bugs, although most birds will feed insects to their young. Providing some untidy areas and pilling logs in a corner, having ground covering plants and long grass gives spiders, moths and other insects places to hide.

Emperor Moth

8. Be wildlife-friendly

Inviting wildlife into your garden means you have to start being a bit more thoughtful about the way you deal with weeds. I've been told on many occasions that weeds are a flower that's in the wrong place so I should embrace them... We all know man-made chemicals aren't a good thing so try and find alternatives if you wish to be weed free, pulling them out by their roots, burning them and taking off flower heads before they go to seed can help reduce their numbers.

Grey Wagtail

9. Leave some long grass

Have an area where you don't cut the grass until late autumn, this will give insects and moths somewhere to hide and in turn provide birds with more natural foods.

10. Don't clear up all fallen leaves

Dropped leaves in the autumn are great at enriching the soil, they also bring worms to the surface. You'll often see Blackbirds throwing leaves out of their way as they hunt for worms and other insects.

Your garden doesn't have to look like a nature reserve to entice the wildlife in, wildlife like tidy well kept gardens as well, as long as there are bugs, seeds, water, flowers, plants and places to hide and keep warm.

Green Woodpecker