It’s an understandable human trait that at the time of year when days are shortest and the weather at its coldest (remember those days?) we should eat plenty to keep warm and Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Prior to Christianity it was simply to celebrate the return of longer days and the renewal of the plant growth that keeps us alive. So it continues, and in many village households the garden birds enjoy the spin-offs of sympathetic humans.
The birds look puffed-up (they are, it traps heat like a duvet) and cold (probably not, because they are puffed-up) and they are hungry. Their hunger is driven by the demand for calories to store as body fat to be burnt through long nights to keep themselves alive. Our natural response, therefore, is to feed them.
Except in the hardest of weather many birds will find enough to survive without our help. This is especially the case in an untidy garden where vegetation hasn’t been cleared away and burnt (although if it’s been composted and put back on the garden, thrushes, dunnocks and other ground feeders will find it full of nourishing invertebrates) and where the leaves haven’t all been swept up and disposed of at the local household recycling centre. Jays have been busier than usual this year burying the few acorns they can can find (it’s been a poor year for oaks), with additional chestnuts to make up for the shortfall, in soft lawns (another reason for not having plastic ones).
Feeding garden birds is now big business (£250m and 150,000 tonnes per year, according to The Telegraph) but is it good for the birds? For some species a definite ‘yes’, but for reasons too complex for this short piece, for others it’s a probable ‘no’. But whatever the science tells us we (including me) will almost certainly continue doing it. But feeding unsuitable food, in unsanitary feeders, is the worst of both worlds. So a few Yuletide dos and don’ts.
It has to be CLEAN to be safe, so clean feeders weekly, getting rid of old or uneaten food. If you wouldn’t eat the food from dirty containers in a restaurant with all sorts of nasties on the ground under the table – neither should the birds! Don’t store food for too long (peanuts particularly as they develop poisons that can kill birds – so buy them fresh from reputable sources).
Avoid salt and milk in scraps as birds cannot deal with these. Fat is very good (lots of calories) but oil isn’t (it can damage plumage). Never feed desiccated coconut (it swells up inside and kills them) – fresh is fine though. Clean water is important too, so change it regularly and clean the birdbath.
And don’t forget to put the turkey carcass out to be picked clean
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