Should I feed the birds this Autumn?
The answer is…a definite yes!
The colder months are fast approaching and as we see the light nights coming to an end, we will notice temperatures plummeting and weather conditions worsening.
When it comes to this time of year, we all tend to feel a little bit flat, but now there’s increasing evidence that wildlife – and birds in particular – have a profound positive impact on our mental wellbeing.
But it’s not just humans feeling the impact from the change of season – our smaller feathered friends also suffer from the colder months.
Not all birds migrate in the winter, so those that are left behind will need a steady source of food to keep them healthy.
But for the birds soon to start their voyage, lots of calories are required for them to cover the thousands of miles they set out to fly - feeding them at the start of autumn is important.
Putting out a high-energy food source for both travelling and familiar garden birds will be of great benefit to their health (and our wellbeing too)!
We have just the thing for this…
Here at Foulgers, we stock high energy food to fuel our feathered friends.
Made from high quality suet and packed with a selection of nutritious seeds including millet and black sunflower seeds, fat balls are a high energy food, suitable for most varieties of garden bird and particularly attractive to great tits, blue tits, long tailed tits and coal tits.
Fat balls provide an important source of nutrition throughout the year, particularly during the nesting season and the colder months when birds need to maintain their fat levels.
Some birds might return to your garden in spring as they’ll see it as a reliable food source - you could even attract new, winter species to your garden!
How do I make my garden bird friendly this season?
We have a few top tips to ensure your garden is the place to be, for both our travelling and home-body birds.
- Plant your garden with bushes, trees and shrubs that produce berries in winter, to provide an extra supply of tasty treats (as well as the fat balls), for local and passing birds. Rowan or Honeysuckle are a few examples of this.
- Another interesting and potentially controversial thing to do is let the Ivy in your garden grow (it looks great climbing up some trellis!)
Thick hedges are also great - this provides the birds with cosy cover to roost in the colder months. - If you’re starting out, hanging feeders or bird tables will certainly do the trick, when it comes to providing the perfect dining experience. Try to place these in a bird-friendly, sheltered position; close to nearby bushes, shrubs or trees so the birds can use these as a jumping-off point or seek cover if they feel threatened.
- In wet winters, or following a fall of snow, remove very wet or soggy bird food from feeding areas. It’s not very appetising for the birds and can quickly rot.
- Lastly, if you're really looking to provide a 5 star experience, invest in a shallow bird bath. Your garden birds need drinking water and a place to spruce up their feathers, so a bird bath is a great addition to your garden!
We hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter and look forward to seeing you in store! Please don't forget to tag us on our Social media platforms @FoulgersDairy if we have inspired you to transform your garden into a bird-friendly zone!
