You might not be surprised to learn that one of the measures we take on how much food garden birds are consuming at any given time year-on-year, is simply how much our regular customers buy. So if the frequency of order and the quantity of foods is lower, then there are less birds eating less food, and of course vis-versa.

Obviously weather plays a big part in this and, for example, a sudden spell of icy weather brings a surge in orders as birds flock to gardens to find food. But this winter has been interesting and a little different, in that business has been up (and that also applies to the whole wild bird food market) and despite us not having an especially severe winter. So what’s the reason? We think it could be down to a relatively poor harvest of hedgerow fruit last autumn, with this meaning that supplies of berries such as hawthorn simply ran out earlier in the winter than usual. That said, it wouldn’t apply to all species of bird – e.g. Greenfinch and Goldfinch which would have been feeding on seed heads on wild flowers and weeds.

We’d like to know your thoughts on this and especially if you’ve also experienced more birds in your garden, so please join in the debate on our Facebook page.