Would you like to attract birds to your garden? Perhaps your garden has been looking a little lifeless and in need of some feathered friends? Wild birds are appreciative of food, water, and space to shelter - particularly if you live in a built-up residential area where greenery is sparse.
That's why we want to inspire you to turn your garden into a haven for birds! Adding some simple features to your garden can make all the difference.
How to attract birds into your garden
Here are our top tips for attracting birds to your garden:
1) Add a water bath
If you want to add a beautiful and practical feature to your garden, an ornate birdbath is the way to go! Birds will flock to open water to bathe and hydrate, especially when temperatures rise.
There are hundreds of bird baths available for you to choose from, so pick one that suits the aesthetic of your garden, but also one that's easy to clean to help prevent diseases from spreading amongst birds. A pond is also a great option if you want to encourage a variety of wildlife into your garden. Of course, if you can't decide which bird bath option is right for your garden, you can upturn a clean bin lid to create a temporary bird bath until you choose a more permanent fixture!
Birds will only use a bird bath if they feel safe. They get excited and pre-occupied about bathing and wet birds do not fly very efficiently, as this makes them vulnerable. To combat this, where possible, try to locate your bird bath close to cover which will provide protection from predators.
Small trees or shrubs are ideal also. It is best to use tap water or fresh water from a water butt to top-up your bird bath. You may find that algae will build up (along with leaves and droppings), and these should be cleaned regularly with a stiff brush and some dilute disinfectant such as Ark-Klens™.
2) Put out bird feed
Birds spend their days searching for food, so providing a plentiful offering in your garden is a great way to attract them. If there's a specific bird species you want to attract to your garden, you can tailor your bird food offering to suit their food preferences. If you offer a variety of bird feed, you will be more likely to see a variety of bird species! Try offering a range of bird food types in different bird seed feeders as the eating habits of different birds vary.
For example:
- Niger seeds are perfect for attracting goldfinches into your garden.
3) Add a nest box
Shelter is something that all wildlife search for, especially when the weather starts to get a little bit cooler. Adding a nest box to your garden can be a great way to encourage a family of birds to take up residency, giving you the opportunity to observe them as they come and go.
Nesting boxes come in a range of designs and sizes, making them a suitable shelter for a huge range of birds. The box pictured above has a gently sloping green stepped roof to imitate the beautiful shape of the trees in the Colorado mountains and it's small size makes it an ideal shelter for Great Tits and Sparrows.
4) Create a safe environment
Natural food is scarce during the wet and the cold days; this is because lots of insects go into hiding to avoid the damp. So, it is important to try and create a garden that provides a rich supply of natural foods. The supplementary moist and high protein food will help the adults survive and subsequently sustain fledglings in the nest in the spring. Planting a range of native UK shrubs, trees, and climbers will produce berries, seeds, fruits, nectar and pollen. These plants can also serve as a shelter for the birds looking for nesting sites and materials.
By simply leaving a few rotting log piles in a shady spot or an area of grass un-mown and messy, you can help a great deal in increasing the insect population of your garden. Insects tend to be a vital food source for garden birds which will help you to attract birds to your garden.
Create some mini beast motels by leaving a few rotting log piles in a shady spot, bundles of sticks made into wigwams, and broken clay flowerpots can be piled into a cairn to mimic a dry stone wall. Leaving an area of grass un-mown or just leaving a 'messy', uncultivated area somewhere, will increase the insect population in the garden and offer vital food sources for garden birds. This will help you attract more birds into your garden.
Gardening for birds
If you have the space to, why not make the most of it and plant some flowers or hedges? Berry-bearing hedges and nectar-rich flowers offer all kinds of bird-friendly benefits.
Not only do shrubs and flowers offer seasonal food and protection from predators, they also provide birds with a place to shelter from the heat.
You should consider planting a combination of the following in your bird-friendly garden:
- Honeysuckle - Besides looking beautiful in summer, honeysuckle provides nectar for all kinds of wild birds including thrushes, warblers and bullfinches.
- Sunflowers - With their tightly-packed seed heads, sunflowers are attractive to birds, bees, butterflies and hoverflies.
- Pyracantha - Nicknamed 'fire horn' due to its long spikey horns, the pyracantha hedge offers protection from predators such as cats.
- Wild Rose / Brambles - These native rambling plants provide even more shelter and food for the wildlife in your garden.
These are just a few tips to make gardening for birds a little easier! Of course, if you'd like to take a look at some of our other garden products to give the birds in your garden a little helping hand, don't hesitate to visit our website.
