Attracting bids into an empty garden?

[WildFlowerBees]

Our garden is being completed redone, we have clay soil leather jacket infestation that we have been battling with for 5 years. We have no turf and a membrane down to stop any grass growth until we can get the soil sorted. I don't use methods that will be harmful to wildlife so it's taking a while.

We don't have many plants at the moment but our intention is to fill it with plants for birds bees and butterflies.

As our garden is now a no man's land for birds how can we attract them? We have a bird table but so far only Frank & Betty the pudgy pigeons are coming.

What else can we do in the interim?

Sunflower hearts have attracted so many different types of smaller birds to our garden this year. They also seem to love a small bird bath we have nearby. Couple of options if there won't be any trees or shrubs to hide in for a while?

You need those cylindrical bird feeders that hang as pigeons can’t get at them so well. Could you put a pole or two up for them to hang off? Smaller birds like wrens also seem to like looking for grubs in my wooden flower border, is there an option of putting some sticks somewhere?

Plan to add a pond (best to do in spring), and have a beach where birds can bathe. It will attract lots of insects for them to feed on, plus frogs and newts. Putting out some feeders now is a good idea, but there is a lot of,wild,food around at the moment for birds, so many are off in the woods and fields reaping their harvest of berries etc. So you won't see quite so many birds now as in the winter when they are hungry.
there are some good videos on YouTube about planting for wildlife. Have fun planning it all!

I have the feeders but nothing on them but like pp mentioned there's food around at the moment. I have a bird and a bee bath so I'll refill those and put them out.

I'll look at adding a pond, I was going to have a wildlife friendly water feature so will look at all options.

Thank you for the advice, will look on YouTube also.

Maybe get some containers while the rest of the garden matures? I quite often see wrens rooting around when I've got pansies in my tubs, not sure what for.

I have a buddleia a crab apple and a few other things in large pots until I've decided where they'll go, hopefully the birds will find the crab apples in winter. Buddleia had a few butterflies but sadly no bees 🐝

I'm not very green fingered so hoping I don't kill them!

They love our lilac bush, helped by the addition of several hanging bird feeders. We have different foods in each and DD never finishes an apple but loves starting them so every day we poke a hole through the 3/4s of an apple she's left behind and string that up too which they seem to enjoy.

That's a nice idea thank you

Water sources at various heights. Keep them clean and fresh.

Look into perennials that are good for pollinators like hardy geranium, salvia, verbena, etc. definitely a pond if you can manage it - that's our next project, probably next year now.
We have lots of fruit trees & bushes & that attracts a lot of birds, sometimes not always welcome like when they strip the cherry tree before the cherries are even ripe! But we have a huge blackberry which produces huge quantities, so I'm happy to sacrifice a lot of them to the birds. Plus they love the bugs it attracts.
Also try & remember to include stuff for moths - they are hugely important to the nature cycles. So look for evening flowering plants like evening primrose, evening flowering phlox, honeysuckle. This in turn attracts bats.
Plus think about caterpillar food sources. For example the mullein moth caterpillar likes buddleia; the elephant hawk moth caterpillar likes fuschia.
Put up bee hotels for solitary bees; leave grass to grow long & hopefully you'll get wild flowers too.
Also spring bulbs & early flowering plants like rosemary for newly emerging bees in spring.

Can you fork over the soil, and throw some of those packets of grubs for birds that you can buy, and they will pick through the 'lawn' area and eat the leatherjacket larvae?

I have the feeders but nothing on them
Check the positioning. When we had feeders out in the open, birds were too afraid to use them. We then hung them under a tree which gave protection from birds of prey. Make sure the feeders are cat- and squirrel-proof.
We have a bird table but so far only Frank & Betty the pudgy pigeons are coming.
We get similar. Big birds like pigeons, magpies and crows go for the flat-table easy win and the smaller birds don't get much of a look in (only the robin). Feeders should encourage the smaller, nimbler birds but don't underestimate the big birds (magpies have learned how to ape them and pigeons just hang around underneath, waiting for crumbs).

If you have no cover then little birds won't feel safe and even if you had their favourite meal they won't come. If pigeons can get access to your bird table so can hawks and other predators so you need to think about the swoop zone and how to break it up.

They need places to hop between to then fly a short distance to the table, this includes shrubs of varying heights and winter cover. Ivy is used by robins to nest in.

Bird houses need to consider the passage of the sun and how you can prevent babies being roasted alive and also protect them from squirrels gaining access to rob the nest.

You are likely at least 12 months away from birds feeling that your garden is a safe space for them.

@WildFlowerBees The leatherjackets are a nightmare. They destroyed my whole garden this year. I’m very disheartened to hear you’ve had them for 5 years! I re sowed the lawn and included a lot of white clover so I’m hoping they won’t come back. I have clay soil too.

Birds are very wary of using feeders where they are sited with no cover nearby as then predators can easily pick them off. Ideally feeders would be near to a large shrub or hedge. Do you have hedges at all ? What is at the perimeter of your garden , is it just fencing ?

Forsythia Bush, should attract sparrows within 4yrs.
Small tree.
Sunflowers. Keep the dead flowers up all winter or tie the seed heads into a tree. The birds should start eating it around December/January.
Teasle, again, keep the dead flowers up all winter.
Water.
I had no birds when I moved here. Now there's a steady stream of them popping by.

My mother never feeds the birds and she has a garden full of them but she also has a garden full of plants and a couple good sized trees. Lots of perennials, lots of bedding plants a few feral shrubs, climbing roses, honeysuckle etc, hedges. There’s loads of insects, lots of hiding places and it’s tidy but not immaculate.

I'm glad I asked! Thank you so much for the great advice. I hadn't thought of moths but I will definitely include them when we plant. I have a lovely rose tree that's about 6ft near a fence so I'll put a feeder closer to that?

Trees will be going in around the perimeter of our garden I want the feeling of being completely enclosed, going for a sanctuary feel that's wildlife friendly.

I have a wildflower garden at the side of our house at the front.

Bee hotel will be going up, we put up a bird box but I think it's positioned in the wrong place, it's too sunny so will move that to a shaded area.

Happy to feed the pigeons but want to get all kinds in our garden eventually, I love sitting at my dads watching all his bird life!

Hedges, trees, places to hide and dash to the bird-table. Also don’t forget water for bathing and drinking in a birdbath as they need that too!

And have piles of leaves & wood rotting down in places, as then there's insects.

I have all the local birds as everyone else's gardens are bare lawns & we have trees & hedges.

I bought a big (60cm across) shallow (about 4cm) tray which I fill with water. I put a stone in the middle and every day I refresh the water. The birds love it. Most mornings I have about 8 sparrow diving in and out of it for ages. I have to refill it a lot because of how much they use it.
There are no cats in my area so it’s safe on the ground.

Agree, same here. I make piles of twigs & leaf debris in semi-hidden areas.