Feeding Garden Birds - When to Feed Birds

Birds appreciate being fed throughout the year, Winter and early spring is the most important time to feed birds, as this is when their natural food is scarce. Feeding birds in the spring and summer may help them to raise their chicks more successfully.  Luckily, most birds take readily to a variety of food items that we can easily provide and this helps them to survive the cold winter months. 

Seed-eaters, such as chaffinches and greenfinches enjoy being offered a supply of seeds all through the year. Birds, whether they are insect or seed eaters when adult, feed their babies on insects and other minibeasts; it is not a good idea to put out loose whole peanuts in the spring and summer - a whole peanut fed to a baby bird by a misguided parent may choke it! However, most other types of food can be quite safely offered throughout the year.

As well as helping the birds, feeding them enables us to watch them close-up, observe their behaviour and even photograph them quite easily!