Birds

[charlieart66]

How easy is it to get birds regularly coming into your garden and possible even nesting?

Is it just as simple as putting up a bird house or some feed?

[Gilly C]

my garden is full of wild birds but I have an aviary and chickens ,I think this helps, this year have had swallows and bluetits nesting, have numerous blackbirds that are very tame and come within a foot of me I always chat to them and throw them worms the robins are quite tame too, I feed wildbird food and sunflower seeds year round though

[Sue]

Nest boxes and feeders are a great start. A source of water to drink and bathe in will also appeal.

You do not say how your garden is planted, but shrubs and trees for cover help the birds feel safe and give them somewhere to check things out before they decide to approach the food/water/nest.

Any plants which attract insects will also bring birds so try and have a long season of nectar available from crocus and hellebores in the spring to ivy in late autumn. Plants which berry and are also popular but can be messy if you use your garden to dry washing in.

I do not put food out but I have a wildlife pond and cottage garden style planting and get loads of birds in the garden.

Sue

[Gilly C]

I forgot to say I have a pond a half barrel and 3 birdbaths too as we live on the coast on limestone so fresh water is a big attraction our nearest neighbour is a mile away and we have planted load of berries too from ivy honeysuckle Rosa rubosa to pyracantha and quince, we also have areas of wildflowers in long grass

[Geoff]

We are in the countryside near woods and have lots of birds in the garden. We have trees, shrubs and a pond. We feed them mixed seed in a feeder and crumbs and more seed on the ground. We used to feed peanuts in those swinging bags but when they kept blowing off I made rigid mesh feeders and attached them to posts. Since then we have been getting Great Spotted Woodpeckers on them, one of delights each year is when they bring their young to feed. We feed all year. We have quite a few nest boxes and numerous broods of tits.

[Primrose]

I think it's important for birds to know they can find food all year round in the same place, and we vastly increased the number of visiting birds once we installed a roofed bird table, although they took a little while to get used to it. We don't have a large number of shrubs as much of the garden, apart from the lawn, is used for growing vegetables but our garden is surrounded by other peoples' trees.
We also provide a bird bath with fresh drinking water, have a mini pond, and hang peanut cages & fat balls around the fences as well as providing seed, fatty oats & dry oats on a daily basis as well as suet pellets when it's really cold. Nesting boxes, if they can be tucked away discreetly also help, but they shouldn't face the sun as the youngsters will get cooked in warm weather.

[Monika]

Yes, birds need food, water, shelter to roost and nesting sites and if you can provide all or most of these, birds are likely to find your garden and stay there for a while. It obviously also depends on your surroundings. If, say, your house is completely surrounded by bare buildings or just arable fields or, for that matter, a conifer forrest, the number of visiting species is likely to be very small, but if you are surrounded by other gardens or near open countryside, birds will make use of YOUR offerings. As well as planting shrubs and trees with berries, you may also think of plants for seeds like poppies (bluetits, great and coal tits love to rip the seeds pods open), lavender, verbena bonariensis and teasels (for goldfinches), dandelion and chickweed (for greenfinches) and thistles, including garden varieties (for goldfinches and linnets, if they are already in your area). One other point, don't be too tidy! Don't cut down your herbaceous plants until spring so that birds can feast on the seeds and also on the many insects which will be hiding in and on the stems in winter, Also provide a pile of rotting logs so that wrens can forage about on it for bugs.
There are lots of books available on how to attract wildlife into the garden!

[girdhar]

Hi,

I think you can increase the traffic of wild or traveling birds to your garden by simply planting more nectarous flowering plant for small birds.
this will increase the number of the insects and also will increase the birds that are fond of insect what do you think?