How to attract birds to your garden: feeders, food, water and nest boxes

Choose the right food

• Sunflower hearts: popular with many small birds, and there are no husks left to clear up.
• Seed mixes: choose mixes without large amounts of cheap filler such as split peas, lentils or dried rice, which many birds will not eat.
• Nyjer seed: small, oily seed liked by finches; it needs a special feeder with fine holes.
• Peanuts: offer them in a sturdy metal mesh feeder so birds have to peck off small pieces. Loose whole peanuts can choke young birds, which is why conservation charities advise against them during the breeding season.
• Fat balls and suet: high-energy food, especially useful in cold weather. Remove any plastic netting before putting them out, as birds can catch their feet in it.
• Fruit: apples and pears cut in half, or softened dried fruit, are taken by thrushes and blackbirds.
• Mealworms: live or soaked dried ones are popular with insect-eating birds.

What not to feed

• Anything salted, such as salted peanuts, crisps or bacon fat.
• Mouldy or stale food.
• Bread and other dry, hard foods in spring and summer, when parents may carry them to the nest and chicks can choke on them.
• Milk, which birds cannot digest properly.
• Cooking fat from roasting tins, which can be mixed with meat juices and smears onto feathers.

Choosing and placing feeders

• Hanging tube feeders for seed and mesh feeders for peanuts are easier to keep clean than open trays. Some conservation organisations now advise against flat bird tables because many birds feeding off one surface spreads disease.
• Place feeders a couple of metres from a bush or tree, close enough for birds to dart to cover but not so close that cats can hide and pounce.
• Keep them away from large windows, or put stickers or patterns on the glass to reduce collisions.
• Put out only what will be eaten in a day or two, so food does not sit and rot.

Water

Hygiene: the part people skip

• Clean feeders and baths regularly, at least weekly, in hot soapy water, then rinse and dry them.
• Use a bird-safe disinfectant if you disinfect, and rinse thoroughly.
• Change bath water daily, and if you cannot keep up the cleaning, leave the bath empty rather than dirty.
• Move feeders around the garden from time to time so droppings do not build up underneath.
• Wear gloves, clean outdoors rather than in the kitchen sink, and wash your hands afterwards.
• If you see sick birds, fluffed up, lethargic or struggling to swallow, stop feeding for a couple of weeks and clean everything thoroughly. If several are sick or dead, look for your country's wildlife disease reporting scheme and report it.

Nest boxes

• Different designs suit different birds: a box with a small round hole suits tits and similar species, while an open-fronted box suits robins and some others.
• Fix boxes firmly, out of the strongest midday sun and prevailing rain, and out of easy reach of cats.
• Put new boxes up in autumn or winter, so birds can find them and sometimes roost in them before spring.
• Never open an occupied box. Leave nesting birds entirely alone.
• Clean out old nests in autumn, once the breeding season is clearly over, to reduce parasites. In some countries the law limits when this may be done, so check the rules where you live.

Plants and shelter