Feeding birds

• What food to provide
• All about bird tables
• How to feed birds
• When to feed wild birds
• What birds to expect
• Hygiene - vital precautions
• Frequently asked questions

Feeding birds

What food can be left out for birds and how can you keep your feeding station hygenic and pest-free? Here you'll find the answers to all your bird feeding questions.

Feeding birds in the garden is a popular activity - over half of adults in the UK feed birds in their garden. Providing birds with supplementary food brings them closer for us to marvel at their exciting behaviour and wonderful colours and rewards them for sharing this intimacy with us. Feeding birds is an easy way to start teaching children about wildlife. 

Supplementary feeding cannot provide all of the natural proteins and vitamins that adult and young birds need, so it is important to create and manage your garden to provide a source of natural foods too, through well-managed lawns, shrub and flowerbeds.

With this popularity of feeding birds, it is important that we do so responsibly and safely. By following a few simple guidelines we can all play a valuable role in helping the birds that visit gardens to: overcome periods of natural food shortage, survive periods of severe winter weather and be in good breeding condition in the spring.

What food to provide The RSPB receives numerous enquiries concerning the feeding of garden birds. Many of them relate to the best type of food to provide or whether particular foods are suitable for birds or not. This page shows you what to feed to your garden birds and what to avoid. More...

All about bird tables Everything you need to know about buying or building a bird table and making it attractive to birds. More...

How to feed birds There are all kinds of ways to feed birds, from bird tables and hanging feeders to devices you can make yourself. More...

When to feed wild birds Although winter feeding benefits birds most, food shortages can occur at any time of the year. By feeding year round, we are giving birds a better chance to survive the periods of food shortage whenever they may occur. More...

What birds to expect The most likely visitors are starlings, house sparrows, blackbirds, blue and great tits, robins, greenfinches and collared doves. More...

Hygiene - vital precautions When a large number of birds are attracted into an area to feed, the danger of disease increases. Advice on how to keep your garden birds - and yourself - safe. More...

About the RSPB

The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten our environment. We rely upon memberships and donations to fund our work. Nature is amazing - help us keep it that way. More...

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