How to lure the right birds into your garden

 Bird feeders have been in the news a lot this year, with the RSPB firstly telling us to stop feeding them, in order to stop the spread of disease: then being lambasted for continuing to sell bird food on their website: then changing their advice to say that we should not feed them during the summer: then retracting their advice, then re-stating it - it's no wonder we are all confused.

Originally, they said to stop feeding birds until October, and that birds did not need us to give them food through the summer. Then they said to only use hanging feeders, and not the flat platform-type feeders, like my famous (well, famous in South Oxfordshire, at any rate) squirrel-proof bird house:

 

But it wasn't clear if they meant that we were "allowed" to use hanging feeders through summer, or not until autumn. And I put that in quotes, because whatever they say, it is only advice, it's not law.

Well, here we are, very nearly in October, so it's time to think about starting to feed them again: but having taken a break from putting out food, it's a good time to have a think about what we feed, and why.

We all love the idea of having birds in our gardens, but it's not always as easy as it seems:...

 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.