When To Feed

The RSPB and BTO agree that birds can be fed all year round. Natural food sources for birds are dwindling, due to intensive farming, urbanisation and pollution. For example bird species that rely on farmland have shown declines ranging from 40 to 76% between 1972 and 1996. Modern agriculture has altered dramatically, for example under law farmers have to keep their grain stores vermin proof, and crops are sprayed three to four times a year. Sprays do not directly kill the birds, but starve them of their food source by destroying weeds and insects.

However the requirements of wild birds still varies throughout the year:

SPRING

It is well known that birds require a plentiful supply of food in the spring, to account for laying eggs and rearing young. Some adult birds will take the food you supply to their young, whilst others will provide their young with natural food sources, coming to your feeder to satisfy their own needs. During late spring your hard work will be rewarded, as you see the adults take their new broods to your bird table.

SUMMER

One of the biggest myths about feeding garden birds is that it is not necessary to feed in the summer. It is untrue for two reasons:

• Summer is a period when birds require a plentiful food supply. The young are inexperienced at feeding, so need an easy food source, and the adults change all their feathers – a process which requires a lot of energy.
• Natural food sources have depleted due to our modern environment.

AUTUMN

October actually appears to be the one month of the year when nature provides sufficient food. However never stop feeding, the food you supply will be used to supplement natural resources, and birds rarely overeat, because they need an optimum weight for flying. Once you stop feeding it may also take a disheartening period of time for birds to return to your garden, because they have had to move and find food sources elsewhere.

WINTER

Additional resources are required to provide warmth in the cold weather. You may wish to feed suet balls to satisfy these requirements.