What's on nature's Christmas menu?

I've got a steady stream of House Sparrows, Great Tits and Goldfinches now visiting my feeders, but I've got up to 25 bird species each week visiting the garden and for many my supplementary food isn't what they are after.

So what is the garden offering the rest of them?

It's one of those dificult questions of wildlife gardening, for getting a detailed understanding of what the Dunnocks, Robins and Wrens of this world are tucking into is really difficult - the likelihood is that they are taking a whole range of natural foods, from seeds to insects to spiders.

The Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests are likely to be wheedling out all manner of the tiniest insects, with moth eggs thought to be a key part of the diet of the Long-tails. Meanwhile, the Blackbirds are polishing off the windfall apples, and the Pied and Grey Wagtails have enjoyed picking a thousand tiny bits of something off the forzen surface of the pond this week, but who knows what?.

It means that when people ask what natural food you should let your garden produce, the answer is more to do with making habitats. If you have a mix of trees, shrubs, long grass and short grass, flowers and climbers, with ponds and bog gardens, log piles, some bare soil, and lots of sunny margins, you'll be creating a winter hamper without needing to worry what is in it. 

But at least for two birds I know exactly what their foodie focus is at the moment. For my Blackcaps, it is the Common Myrtle, a much underrated shrub for small gardens. The berries are only ripening now, which is excellent as all the Holly and Pyracantha berries have long since been stripped by the Blackbirds and Wood Pigeons.

For my Blue Tits, their attention is on ravaging my Winter-flowering Cherry (Prunus x subhirtella), which has burst into life with the warm weather this week. I was lucky to find some intact flowers to photograph, for the tits have been busy pretending this is a confetti factory. Presumably they are eating the sugar-filled nectaries at the base. I have a sweet tooth myself, so I can't deny them their pleasure! My garden doors are open to all, whatever their tastes.