Feeding the Birds - Advice from Bill

Tatty Tits and Smart Fledglings

It is generally considered that the middle of winter is the optimum activity time for birds on the feeders. Certainly, if the weather is harsh this may be true, and feeding can mean the difference between life and death for our garden birds. However, if I had to name the busiest months in my garden it would be June and July. This is the time when my feeders are invaded by whole families of Blue, Great and Coal Tits.

It is not difficult to tell the difference between parents and youngsters. For a start, some of the recently fledged birds are still reluctant to feed themselves. They may stay perched a few feet from the feeders, quivering their wings and begging. Sometimes the parents will feed them, but really the adults have the right to feel their work is at an end. And don't they look it!? Adult birds can get terribly scruffy at this time of the year. Feathers have been ruffled and broken by hundreds of trips in and out of the nest holes, to the extent that bald Blue Tits are quite a common sight!

It is now that extra food is so valuable. The chicks no longer need to be fed on soft grubs and insects, and the parents need to get their strength back. Their next "job" is to grow new feathers, and until they do they may become even tattier. Meanwhile, it is easy to recognize the juveniles. Their plumage is neat and smart, and invariably a little paler than the adults. The colours are sort of washed out. But they certainly don't have washed out appetites. 

I am often asked if we should feed the birds in summer. Answer: yes. Arguably, even more so.