If you want to attract birds to your garden, it’s important to remember that they need three key things: food, shelter, and safety. Provide all three, and you’ll greatly increase your chances of regular feathered visitors.
To help you get started, we’ve put together a simple, step-by-step guide to transform your garden into a welcoming haven for wild birds.
Hanging up bird feeders is one of the simplest and most effective ways to attract birds like goldfinches, greenfinches, long-tailed tits, blue tits, great tits, sparrows, and starlings to your garden. Whether you have a large garden, a small courtyard, or even a balcony, feeders can be easily installed to suit your space.
There are many different types of bird feeders available, each designed for specific kinds of food, so it’s important to choose feeders that match what you’re offering. A good place to start is with one or two feeders filled with popular bird foods. Once birds begin to visit regularly, you can experiment with different styles and foods to attract even more species.
There’s a wide range of bird food available on the market, including blends tailored to specific species. If you’re just starting out and aren’t sure which birds you want to attract, it’s best to begin with a versatile, all-purpose option like peanuts or sunflower hearts, both of which are popular with a variety of garden birds.
As you get to know the regular visitors to your garden, you can begin to offer a broader selection. During colder months and the breeding season, it’s especially helpful to provide high-energy foods like fat balls and suet cakes to support birds when they need it most.
Always buy bird food from a reputable supplier, as cheaper options can contain low-quality fillers with little nutritional value. To keep your supplies fresh and avoid spoilage, store bird food in a cool, dry place.
If you have the space, adding a bird table to your garden is another excellent way to feed wild birds. Unlike hanging feeders, bird tables allow you to offer a wider range of foods, including kitchen scraps and fresh fruit. They’re also ideal for ground-feeding birds like blackbirds, robins, collared doves, and thrushes, which may struggle to use hanging feeders.
To deter larger birds from monopolising the food, opt for a bird table with a roof, ideally made from slate, which also helps keep food dry during wet weather. Be sure to clear away any uneaten food at the end of each day to prevent attracting rodents and to reduce the risk of spreading disease.
Choosing the right location for your bird feeders or bird table is important. Birds need to feel secure while feeding, so place feeders near a nearby perch, such as a tree or shrub, where they can land and survey the area before approaching the food, and gives them a safe retreat to fly to if they feel threatened.
Keeping your bird feeders clean is essential to protect the health of visiting birds. Dirty feeders can spread bacteria and disease. Clean your feeders and bird table thoroughly at least once a week, but more often during hot weather or when they’re frequently used. If the food looks spoiled or mouldy, discard it, clean the feeders, and replace it with fresh supplies.
Birds need fresh water for both drinking and bathing. A bird bath can be as simple as an upturned dustbin lid or a shallow dish placed on the ground, or you could opt for a more decorative bath to make it a feature in your garden. Birds are especially drawn to the sound of running water, so installing a small pump or choosing a solar-powered bird bath can encourage more visitors.
In warm weather, stagnant water can quickly become a breeding ground for bacteria, so it’s important to change the water regularly and clean the basin at least once a week. While most bird baths can stay outside year-round, if you have a stone bath, be mindful that it may crack in freezing temperatures.
During the first half of the year, birds are busy courting, nesting, and raising their young. You can lend a helping hand by providing suitable nesting sites in your garden. Consider hanging up a bird box or offering natural nesting spots in dense hedges, shrubs, trees, or thick vines like ivy.
Birds are particularly vulnerable during the breeding season, so if you’ve been fortunate enough to attract a pair to a nest box, avoid disturbing them by getting too close or peeking inside. Even a small disturbance can cause the birds to abandon the nest. If you’re keen to observe from a safe distance, a camera nest box allows you to watch the action without disturbing the birds.
To attract a wide variety of birds to your garden, it’s important to have a diverse range of plants. Include berry-bearing bushes, shrubs, and trees for shelter, as well as grasses and flowers that will attract insects to provide natural food sources. If you have a lawn, consider planting a small wildflower meadow to boost the diversity of your garden.
Even if you have a smaller space, such as a patio or terrace, you can still make a big impact by adding a few containers with bird-friendly plants. Sunflowers, poppies, marigolds, lavender, daisies, and grasses thrive in pots and will not only brighten your space but also attract wildlife.
For those trying to attract birds to their gardens, local cats can pose a significant threat. It’s heartbreaking to find the remains of a bird after it has fallen victim to a cat. Unfortunately, while you can manage your own cat, it’s nearly impossible to control the behaviour of visiting cats.
However, you can take steps to cat-proof your garden with a variety of deterrents. Options include installing fence spikes, using sonic and scent repellents, and incorporating light reflectors. Adding baffles to your bird feeders will not only keep cats away but also prevent squirrels and rats from raiding the food.
Birds require food the most during spring, when they’re expending significant energy on breeding and raising chicks, and in winter, when natural food sources can be scarce, and they need extra energy to stay warm. However, food shortages can happen at any time of year, particularly in urban areas or during periods of drought or heavy rainfall.
In autumn and winter, provide high-energy foods like fat balls, suet treats, niger seed, sunflower hearts, and peanuts, and make sure your bird baths are topped up and free from ice. During spring and summer, birds need more protein, so offer mealworms, insectivorous bird seed mixes, and kitchen scraps like unsalted bacon and grated cheese. On particularly hot days, offer only small amounts of food, as it can spoil and become rancid quickly in the sun.
After setting up your bird-friendly garden, it may take days, weeks, or even months before birds start visiting. Don’t be discouraged if things seem to be taking longer than expected. There could be plenty of natural food sources nearby, or your neighbours may already be feeding the local birds. Patience is key, and eventually, the birds will come. Once they do, you’ll begin to notice which foods they prefer and whether they’re exploring potential nesting sites.
Once you have a few visitors, consider adding features to attract specific species. For example, a suet log feeder can bring in woodpeckers, while an open-fronted nest box is perfect for robins. You could also entice other wildlife with an insect house or butterfly feeder. If you enjoy photography, capturing the beauty of garden birds can become a rewarding hobby as well.
Find out more
With just a little effort, you’ll soon start to see a wide variety of birds flocking to your garden.
To help you identify the most common UK garden visitors, we’ve put together a mini guide featuring 18 of the most frequently spotted British garden birds.
6 Responses
a ground feeding cage is v useful; protects vs crows and cats
Just realised you have the same name as me. Hello!
Thank you for all this, all very helpful advice.
But do you have any suggestions on how to stop the Magpies coming into my garden. First they are taking all the food I put out for the Blue Tits and Goldfinches who also come into my garden and secondly, i am worried now that they will find the Blue Tits that i think have made a nest in one of my hedges.
Don’t get me wrong I do love all birds and don’t want to harm them in any way but I also want to give the little birds a chance especially the Blue Tits who have been busy for weeks now making a nest.
Oh my goodness!!!! That little drawing is super cute. The little birdie going after the snail for its dinner – yum yum !! ????
Ha. Yes it is – can I share this with my class? It would be very helpful in explaining how to feed birds. And I think they’d like the picture .
Yes – absolutely! Hope the children enjoy it. Thanks BS.