As the chill winds blow across Harringay, you may have noticed a lot more frantic bird activity in the neighbourhood as the hunt for food begins. This morning in my garden, a bunch of teenage starlings are raiding the mealworm balls and the blue and great tits are nabbing peanuts every few seconds.
The RSPB offer some good advice for feeding the local bird population including:
1. Put out feed regularly, especially in severe weather. Set up a bird table and use high calorie seed mixes. This can also be used to put out kitchen scraps such as grated cheese, pastry and porridge oats.
2. Put out hanging feeders with black sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, sunflower-rich mixes or unsalted peanuts.
3. Ensure a supply of fresh water every day. If it is very cold use tepid water but DO NOT use any antifreeze products.
4. Put out fruit, such as apples and pears, for blackbirds, song thrushes and other members of the thrush family.
5. Birdfood bars or fat hung up or rubbed into the bark of trees is a great help for treecreepers, goldcrests and many other species.
(if I saw a treecreeper in my garden, I think I'd faint)
6. Put up nest boxes to provide roost sites for the smaller birds. They will then be used for breeding later in the year.
Also raid your green scraps box for leftovers, including grated cheese, porridge oats, soft fruit, unsalted bacon, cooked rice, pasta and the insides of cooked potatoes which are also good sources of energy for garden birds.
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