10 nature-led ways to feed birds

Want to give wild birds a natural boost this winter? Kate Bradbury explains how to attract a wide diversity of birds to forage within your garden and why this is so beneficial

For years we've been encouraged to feed garden birds, both for their benefit and our enjoyment. I've written countless articles on the most calorific food to help birds through winter and get them into good shape for breeding. When research revealed the benefits of feeding all year round, I was there too, explaining that offering adult birds food in summer would help more chicks survive.

And more chicks did survive. Garden birds do very well from us feeding them, including declining species like house sparrows, tree sparrows and starlings. But new research* suggests that increases in some populations can be problematic, with growing numbers of dominant garden and woodland birds, such as great tits and great spotted woodpeckers, linked to declines in subordinate woodland species like willow and marsh tits. The dominant birds monopolise nest sites and food resources over the more timid species that are less likely to visit feeders. From 1967 to 2022, great tit numbers increased by 82 per cent and great spotted woodpeckers by 388 per cent. Meanwhile willow tits declined by 96 per cent and marsh tits by 80 per cent. It seems we gardeners are giving dominant birds an unfair advantage.