A helping hand for feathered friends
The recent weather has suddenly got it feeling very wintry out there. But while we can sit inside, wrapped up warm with a nice hot drink, spare a thought to the wildlife out in your garden! With freezing temperatures, limited daylight and scarce food supplies, now is a really challenging month for birds, hedgehogs and other wild animals. But this also means it’s the best time for us to offer them a helping hand.
Staying warm is hungry work
To withstand the cold, damp, British winter, birds need lots of high-energy foods to keep themselves warm.
What makes their job even harder is that many of their usual sources of energy - fruit, nuts, seeds - are simply not around during winter.
Thankfully, us humans are around to help!
The most important thing at this time of year is to give birds quality food packed with lots of energy. Some great sources of this are fat balls, insects, and good quality seed mixes.
While it can be tempting to buy cheap seed to fill your feeders with, these are often bulked out with unattractive filler seed that birds will reject, strewing the mess onto your lawn.
It’s worth it - for both your sakes! - to spend a little more and get the good quality stuff.
You’ll find a great selection of quality bird and wildlife feed in your local British Garden Centre.
Serving up a feast
Now that you’ve stocked up on food, you’ll need to think about how you serve it.
There’s a number of different ways to serve your local birds, from attractive wooden bird tables to handy hanging feeders – perfect for hooking onto a branch.
An important thing to consider when choosing a hanging feeder is that you choose the right type for the feed you are using.
From seed feeders to fat ball cages, our online store has a great selection of feeders for all different types of bird feed.
Home and dry
Put yourself in the birds shoes again and imagine being out in the cold with no home!
While some birds will have already established their nests, many still happily take to nesting boxes placed out in late autumn .
As well as being a fantastic spot for garden birds to build their nest in, they also look rather lovely.
Here's a few of our favourites you can buy now on our online store - we particularly love the 'Paint your own' nesting box!
Thanks for reading.
