Preparing for Winter

There’s a huge variety of food that can be used to feed wild birds, and putting out a good mixture of different kinds will encourage a wide range of species into the garden. Sunflower seeds, pinhead oatmeal, raisins, mealworms, raw suet, bacon rind, melon seeds, stale cake and bread (moistened with a little water if it’s very dry) are all good sources of food. Peanuts (not salted ones) are good, too, but because birds can choke on whole nuts they are best provided in a small wire mesh feeder: this means the bird has to peck away at the nuts rather than grabbing them whole. A fresh coconut, halved across its equator and with a hole drilled in each end, can be hung up in the garden, but avoid desiccated coconut: it swells up in the bird’s stomach, which can be dangerous. You can also buy bags of mixed bird feed from garden centres.

It’s also a good idea to provide water, which birds use not only to drink but also to bathe in. While there should be more than enough water around in birds’ natural habitats at the moment, if we get freezing weather much of this water becomes unavailable to them, so a bird bath or shallow dish of water will be welcome. If the water in a bird bath freezes, remember to break the ice or pour in some hot water to melt it.

Read more: Wild and Wonderful