Working from home during the Coronavirus pandemic saw people spending much more time in their gardens, and the growing interest for wild bird feeding meant households only wanted the best.

Here are our top tips for feeding your back garden birds.

1. Feed high quality seeds

Offering a wider variety of seeds will attract a multitude of birds as different species have different tastes! By providing a premium blend of seeds such as Premier Wild Bird Mix by Walter Harrison's, you also offer more nutrition and energy to birds whatever the season. Premier Wild bird Mix does not contain any seeds with husks (the shells of seeds) which means the birds won't leave any mess around your feeding station.

2. Avoid wheat in seed mixes

Wheat attracts pigeons and doves, and these birds can scare off other wild garden birds. Choose a wheat-free seed mix to prevent pigeons and doves from dominating the feeding area, and give you a better opportunity to spot interesting birds in your garden. You can check whether a wild bird seed mix contains wheat on the back of the packaging, in the ingredients section.

3. Consider mixing up your food types

Like humans, birds love variety! Try feeding peanuts, suet, or classic fat balls as wild birds love a treat (or two!). Look out for specialised feeders which cater to those food types. For example, always feed peanuts in peanut feeders such as Walter Harrison's Die Cast Peanut Feeder, which stops birds snatching up whole peanuts! Indeed, wild birds can choke on whole peanuts. 

Suet comes in different forms, but our Walter Harrison's suet rolls that come in berry, insect and seed flavours, are super easy to slide into a suet feeder, and just as easy to replenish! Find out about suet cages, which are also a very easy feeding method for wild birds.

4. Make sure you clean your feeders regularly.

Bird feeders can build bacteria which can be bad for birds, so it's important to clean them regularly. Our range of flip top feeders are very easy to clean.