Feeding the wild birds in your back garden is a pleasant pastime and one that can be done quite cheaply, either by buying nuts and seeds or using household food scraps. Once they start feeding wild birds most people do not want to stop because they enjoy watching them and seeing them feed. Some people disagree with the idea of feeding. They think that it makes the birds tame and dependent on humans for their food. Other people say that feeding wild birds is just helping them to overcome the shortage of natural wild food in the winter months and does them no real harm.

How do you go about feeding the wild birds that visit your garden and what food is best to give them? During the colder winter weather wild birds need high energy, high fat food to survive. Food such as suet balls, nuts and seeds is especially suitable. A source of fresh water should also be made available for the birds to drink and wash in, preferably a shallow container which should be cleaned out regularly. Keep your bird feeding area clean. You should try to adjust the amount of food given to the amount being eaten, do not overfeed as spilled food will accumulate and could cause health problems.

Peanuts in a wire mesh feeder are good at attracting blue tits, great tits and long tailed tits and seed is good at attracting finches. If you are using a window based feeder it may take longer for the wild birds to find and trust the new source of food. Should you stop feeding when the winter is over? Some people say that you ought to finish feeding when the better weather comes. Other people say that stopping feeding suddenly stresses the birds. So it is better to stop feeding them, but gradually once the warmer weather comes, in order to reduce any stress. Once winter is over and natural sources of food are more abundant you ought to gradually stop refilling your feeding stations. A lot of folks do not want to stop because they enjoy watching the wild birds and may even recognize the regular visitors. But you can start feeding them again next winter when the colder weather returns.