Now the cold weather has kicked in, and snow is forecast over the next few weeks, it is even more important that you give your garden wildlife a helping hand. The main ways you can do this is by providing a wide variety of nutritional food for all the species which visit your garden, un-frozen water which is available day and night, and plenty of safe, warm shelter.
Here’s how you can help the different species which visit your garden.
Garden birds
As the migrant birds start to arrive on British soil, and it becomes difficult for birds to find natural food sources, it is even more vital that a mixture of different foods are available in your garden.When you feed the garden birds in the winter It also increases their breeding success for the following year.
One way you can start preparing now is by removing any old, broken nest boxes, cleaning and fixing them then returning them as some birds will conserve heat by roosting in them communally over night. This is especially common with smaller bird species like wrens.
Also, avoid cutting hedges until the end of winter as these provide valuable shelter for birds and give them more time to eat the berries left over from the summer.
As the weather gets colder and colder the birds which visit your garden will become dependent on the food you leave out so remember to feed them consistently.
Make sure the feeders and tables are clean and hygienic, you can do this by soaking them in sterilizing fluid and get into the routine of washing them regularly as they will be using feeders more frequently and if the feeders and tables are left and become very unhygienic they can cause the birds to get different diseases and make them become ill. Water is also very important for the birds as there isn’t as much available especially when it freezes. A way you can make the water you put out in your garden frost free is by pouring some warm water into a dish, standing the dish on at least three bricks and creating room underneath to put lit candles so the heat from the candles stops it freezing over.
There is a wide range of different food you can offer to your birds but some good ones which offer a meal to all different species are black sunflower seeds, nyjer seeds, peanuts, fat balls, live foods, cheese and coconut. Some which you should NOT offer are porridge oats, salted or dry roasted peanuts, cooking fats, polyunsaturated fats, milk, dessicated coconut and moldy and stale food. There are lots of online recipes were you can make your own food for the garden birds too.
Georgia Locock 