Tips for feeding birds
1. Birdtables should be placed where the birds are safe and will be able to feed undisturbed. Avoid putting them near fences or dense hedges, where cats can easily get to them. If there is a small bush nearby, birds can use this as a look-out point to make sure it is safe.2. The best foods to offer birds in colder weather have a high fat or oil content that will provide abundant energy for winter survival.
3. Fruit will attract several species of bird which may not otherwise visit your garden. Apples and pears cut in half and placed on the ground will attract Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.
Mesh bags – a warning
Peanuts and fat balls are regularly sold in nylon mesh bags. Never put out any food in mesh bags. These may trap birds’ feet and even cause broken or torn off feet and legs.
Let it grow:
If milder winters mean your grass keeps on growing, let it. It will provide shelter for insects, which in turn can feed birds. If you must trim it, adjust your mower to cut no shorter than 3.5cm, and consider leaving a patch to provide a ‘corridor’ for creatures such as frogs and mice. Delay repairing walls and paving until the weather warms up, as all these places will be sheltering wildlife from the cold.Wild winter gardening:
Plant seasonal bloomers such as heathers, winter-flowering jasmine (Jasminium nudiflorum) and winter-flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) in case warm weather tempts out nectar-hungry insects. Holly, ivy and spindleberry (Euonymus europaeus) are great sources of bird food throughout winter. Evergreens and climbers provide shelter as well as texture and colour. Leaving herbaceous vegetation standing until March provides cover, while letting seedheads stay on plants will provide food for small birds.Wood Piles:
Rotting wood is a valuable part of the ecosystem, a home to beetles, fungi, centipedes and more. Some bees and wasps reuse beetle tunnel as next sties.Minibeast mansion:
Introduce simple bug homes to your plot. You could make an insect tower block by screwing three or four old bird boxes together and stuffing them with straw, stones, twigs and pine cones. If you have an old fence post hanging around, drill holes in it to create a home for solitary bees. Make sure these apertures are well spaced and drilled at an angle, so they don’t fill with rainwater.Leave the leaves:
Some creatures use dry leaves to line their nests or burrows. Make a pile in the corner of your garden and something is bound to move in. The mulch left over from dead leaves is full of nutrients, good for worms and other minibeasts.Hibernators:
Of our mammals, only bats, the dormouse and perhaps most famously, the hedgehog hibernate during the winter. Amphibians such as frogs, toads and newts also enter a kind of hibernation, but as they are cold blooded, the physiological changes they undergo are different. Frost can damage their body tissues, so they need somewhere sheltered. Male frogs often spend the winter in the mud at the bottom of ponds, while females prefer to hibernate away from the pond, as do toads and newts. Float a ball in your pond to keep an area free of ice.Frosty fluttering:
Red admiral butterflies often overwinter in sheds, but may become active on milder days. This uses up valuable energy so, if you do see any, leave out a dish of sugar water to give them a boost. If you find a butterfly indoors in winter, release it in a cool, sheltered place, such as a garage or shed, rather than a cold garden.Hedge funds: Berries are an important food source for robins, so having some brambles on the go is a good way to attract them. Some bird species come to Ireland for the winter and although they do not frequent gardens that often, they love hawthorn hedges and can turn them into twittering hives of activity.
