Feeding garden birds: Guardian piece

[ConstanzeMozart]

Guardian piece on what to feed and what not to feed garden birds. It's not very clear; is it OK to scatter seeds and nuts on the ground? (among other birds I have jays in my garden and they love monkey nuts, and will hoover up seeds from the ground/shed roof too).
www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/10/rspb-bird-feeders-nuts-seeds-summer-parasitic-avian-disease

I think it's NEW guidance:

In new guidance, the RSPB is advising people to “feed safely and feed seasonally” by removing all bird feeders filled with seeds and peanuts and instead offering small amounts of protein such as mealworms, fat balls or suet from 1 May to 31 October,

Can't you just save them until winter?
The advice says to give them in summer...
The advice is intended to stop birds dying from diseases. Yes, I know, I have read and understood that.
I don't really have the time to buy/find strings and string fatballs on them. I've never seen a rat in my garden.

I edited this because the RSPB advice might help you more:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/how-to-help-garden-birds

Sounds like fat balls in a feeder cleaned weekly aligns with their advice?

I put mealworms in a feeder.

They're going to need to close their webshop, then (apart from bird themed teatowels) I guess.

It's regarding bird flu. Which is incredibly serious and there's no vaccine.

Birds are needed in this world.

Fat balls will certainly get rats in the garden.

People with gardens need to plant more natural food sources really. No point in having a tidy garden with bird feeders. Let a patch grow wild and keep dead seed heads up all winter.

I feed the birds from feeders all year round. The rooks and pigeons etc eat what falls to the ground. I have loads of birds so they are clearly dependent on the food

Crows bring you presents if you feed them regularly. I love crows.

I clean and disinfect my bird feeders with F10 disinfectant about 2-3 times a week. Mostly though, I scatter peanuts and seeds around the garden in different places each time. I do only put out food 3 times a week also, if I put some out every day then the 6 wood pigeons simply stay in my garden all the time, only leaving if the fox comes by.

The corvids get their food from my puzzle feeders that I put up specifically for them, these also get disinfected 3 times a week.

I've found the local birds have gotten into a routine with my garden. The magpies and wood pigeons come around most frequently since they both nest in nearby trees. The mob of house sparrows and finches visit when the magpies are elsewhere. Curiously, they also visit when the crows are in the garden. The crows don't seem to bully them like the magpies do.

The garden is rarely empty, the only time there is not a wood pigeon or a corvid is when there is a predator around - we also have a resident sparrowhawk and a frequent buzzard now.

The main reason, especially in summer, why my very urban garden is constantly busy is nothing to do with food I've found. It's because I have a pond. They all come for the water more than anything else.

If it improves the chances of our declining bird population then I’m all for it. I will try and clean my feeders more regularly and be more mindful because of this advice. I won’t fill them for summer.

I love the crows and magpies
I tend to put the fatballs down on the ground and they go super fast
Ive never used a feeder or a bird table

Stop doing that.

Install a bird bath and change the water daily.

Yes I think they'll need to remove the flat surface feeders given the new advice.

I never get finches or anything other than sparrows, pigeons and magpies so maybe I dont need to be that concerned about this guidance. I had a peanut feeder but nothing ate them.

I bought my ground bird table last year, from the RSPB website, though they don't have it on there any more. It has a cage that goes over the top so the bigger birds don't snaffle everything. It's never crowded, maybe one or two birds in there at any one time. My visitors are sparrows and robins in the feeder and pigeons, wood pigeons, magpies and crows when I throw anything else out. It's so long since I've seen starlings or a blackbird. 🙁 I rarely get finches, but have seen some great tits occasionally. Even the sparrows are sparse. Never see the big flocks we had when I was a kid. If I didn't use the caged feeder then the little birds wouldn't get anything in my garden because the pigeons and crows are more like bloody vultures!

I am very lucky that two feet outside my front door is an ancient hedgerow. Particularly lucky as we live in a new build. My hedgerow is heaving, heaving with birds. The mornings are a deafening cacophony and I wouldn’t have it any other way. My feeders attract loads of sparrows and starlings as well as pigeons, doves, robins, tits, finches and wrens. The red kites circle but don’t come down.

the hedgerow is full of brambles and bushes covered in berries, it’s a fabulous resource for them but we fill the hungry gap with feeders and put out water when needed.

I don't feed the birds due to rodent fear 🙄, but the minute I have finished mowing the lawn they descend in their droves and it's great to watch them. What fascinates me is there are multiple and I mean lots, wing to wing, smaller birds on the power line (between the poles) just outside my back wall. They sit there in a line patiently waiting, and then all of a sudden they are in my garden in a swoop. I just love that. I wonder who gives the command to descend!

These are the type of feeders they are now advising people don't use.

You’re funny.

No, it's to stop them eating regurgitated food on bird tables and therefore spread disease.

I have a friend who has a crow that turns up at around 4pm every day. He knocks on her window and she gives him bits of ham. Actually, friend thinks it's a female as sometimes it brings another (bigger) bird with it.

not envy