Attract Birds to your garden

5 easy ways to attract wild birds to your garden

Having a beautiful garden is something many of us strive to achieve. Many people say that a garden is not fully complete until there are birds chirping and singing right outside your doorstep. If you are struggling to attract birds closer to your home, there are a few things that you can do to help transform your garden into a safe little haven for all kinds of wild birds.

1. Provide Food

One of the easiest steps you can take is to provide these winged creatures with a constant food supply. They will begin to associate your garden with food and thus are likely to keep returning to fill up their empty stomachs. Birds love all sorts of food including mealworms, sunflower seeds, canary seeds and oats. You can get mealworms and feeders for close to nothing thanks to these great deals. Mealworms tend to attract the most birds; some common visitors may include starlings, blackcaps, sparrows, robins and blackbirds.

2. Safe Environment

People like their homes to feel safe and secure from any possible predators looking to do us harm and wild birds are no different. The majority of them have spent a great deal of their lives avoiding danger and they will not stay in your garden for long if there is a purring cat nearby, watching their every move as it gets ready to pounce. For this reason, positioning in the garden is crucial. Do not place shelters or feeders in a place where cats can reach. Instead, raise the height and put these things in a spot where birds can get a good view of the garden at all times.

3. Nest Boxes

All birds can benefit from nest boxes, particularly smaller birds who often have to compete with stronger and larger birds for their homes. It is all about ‘location, location, location,’ after all and birds will adore nest boxes because the hard work will be done for them and it will provide a long-term shelter and home. According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), over 60 species have used nest boxes in the past. The most popular users include the likes of robins, house martins, kestrels, tawny owls, sparrows, blue tits and nuthatches.

4. Clean Water Supply

Birds enjoy a nice relaxing bath every once in a while which is why having a sloping bath in your garden will encourage some feathered friends to stop by to use it. Remember to keep the water as clean as possible and refill it often. Don’t go any deeper than 10cm and make sure to add a flat stone to the centre of the bath. This is to help birds gain better access to the water, whilst also giving them a nice stepping stone so that they can jump out and fly away whenever they like.

5. Plants and Shrubbery

According to The Guardian, manicured and empty lawns are not of interest to birds, they need shrubs, trees and climbers to pique their interest and encourage them to make your garden their new home. Hedges are of particular use to birds and by adding some to your garden you are giving them a possible nesting place whilst supplying a means for them to catch their own food as insects tend to arrive wherever there is shrubbery and plants.