If you have space in your garden, a bird table is one of the most flexible ways of feeding birds. You don’t need to buy any specialist food and instead it can be used to offer a wide variety of food combinations, which will give you the best chance of attracting lots of species of birds to your garden.
Read on to find out about the different types of food you can put on a bird table, some of the things you shouldn’t leave out, and what to feed as the seasons change over the year.
A bird table is the perfect way to feed your garden birds leftovers. All sorts of food from your kitchen can be put out on a bird table and this is a great way of feeding birds without having to buy bird seed. Leaving out your leftovers also helps with reducing household waste.
Birds will happily tuck into bread, cake, and biscuit crumbs, mild cheese, bacon rind, cooked potatoes, vegetables, pasta, and rice. You can also serve up fruit such as apples, pears, bananas, grapes, and plums even if they’re bruised or starting to go soft. Chop them up into small pieces and scatter some under your bird table as ground-feeding birds in particular enjoy eating fruit.
Don’t put out anything that has gone mouldy, and avoid anything that is very processed. Although solid fats such as suet and lard are fine, fat from the roasting tin can get smeared on birds’ feathers; it can also contain a lot of salt and because it’s mixed with meat juices can go off quickly.
Although you can buy bird feeders designed for holding different types of bird seed, it’s fine to sprinkle seeds on your bird table too. Some birds find it difficult to cling to hanging bird feeders and will be much more comfortable eating seeds from a flat surface.
Many garden birds enjoy eating sunflower seeds and hearts which are full of essential nutrients such as protein and oils. Although niger seed is another popular choice it is very fine and could blow off the bird table on windy days or even from the movement of birds as they come into land.
Alternatively, you can buy an all-purpose seed mix that contains a variety of ingredients such as maize, oats, barley kibbled peanuts, millet, and sunflower seeds. Some seed mixes are fortified with vitamins and calcium to help provide your birds with a nutritionally balanced diet. Choose a no-grow seed mix which has had the husks removed and will minimise waste and mess left around your bird table.
You can also put peanuts, either in the shell or just the hearts, on your bird table, a favourite with lots of species of birds. Only use plain peanuts and avoid any that are salted, dry roasted, or flavoured. Some peanuts produced for human consumption may have fatal levels of aflatoxin so buy them from a garden centre or pet shop if you’re not sure. In the spring avoid putting out whole nuts which can be harmful to baby birds.
You can buy special cages for holding suet blocks and fat balls, but it is just as easy to place these directly on your bird table. They come in a variety of flavours with added ingredients including mealworms, fruit, and seeds, or you could make your own by melting suet, stirring in some dry ingredients, such as raisins, oats, and nuts, and setting in cupcake tins, yogurt pots, or shaping into balls.
Don’t put suet blocks on your bird table in very hot weather. The fat can melt and stick to birds’ feathers, and they can quickly go rancid and spoil.
Some bird tables come complete with hooks at the side of the feeding platform so you can hang things from it. If not, you could screw in some cup hooks yourself to make your bird table even more flexible.
For birds that prefer to feed at a hanging feeder, hang up some seed and nut feeders, fat balls, strings of peanuts, coconut shells, or pieces of toast or fruit.
It’s important to supply your garden birds with a fresh source of drinking water but don’t put water on your bird table, even if it comes with a compartment for doing so. Birds will also bathe in the water they drink from and the food on your bird table will soon become soggy as they splash about in it.
Use a separate bird bath or a shallow dish and remember keep it topped up, particularly on very hot days or when natural sources of water may be frozen over.
Many species of garden birds will use a bird table including, collared doves, robins, sparrows, and dunnocks. Even though they prefer hanging feeders, blue tits, great tits, and coal tits will also use bird tables particularly if you offer them peanuts. Sunflower seeds with attract goldfinches, greenfinches, chaffinches, and bullfinches, while fruit will be favoured by blackbirds and thrushes.
Start off by placing kitchen scraps on your bird table so if it takes a little time for the birds to find it you won’t waste money by throwing away uneaten food. Then, when you start to have plenty visitors turning up you can experiment to find out which food different species prefer.
A bird table can be used all year round, although it’s particularly important in the late autumn and winter when natural food sources may be in short supply. Load your bird table up with high-energy foods such as fat, cheese, and nuts. Chop food into tiny pieces so they don’t waste precious energy pecking away at the food.
In spring birds also need lots of energy to get them through breeding season. However, birds can much more easily find food in the wild so don’t be surprised if you see fewer birds using your bird table. Food with added insects or mealworms will give them a much-needed protein boost, and fruit contains plenty of natural sugars to keep their energy levels up.
In summer, the number of birds visiting in your garden may reduce significantly as they disappear for their moult. Some may even return to the countryside to take advantage of the food on offer. You might need to reduce the amount of food you offer and avoid putting out anything that can spoil quickly in the heat. Don’t stop feeding them altogether so when they’re ready to return in the autumn, they’ll easily know that your bird table is waiting with a good supply of food for them.
Before adding new food to your bird table, clear away any old bird food and droppings. Only put out enough food that can be eaten in a day, and don’t put anything on your bird table that could roll or blow off and fall on the floor. Birds are messy eaters though so things will end up on the ground. Sweep underneath your bird table to remove any waste and help prevent rats and other vermin.
You will need to give your bird table a thorough clean at least once a month to keep it free from bacteria and disease. And if any screws become loose or wood becomes splintered then remove and replace them.
