Now that the Autumn equinox has passed and October is fast approaching, it’s time to think about refreshing and refilling the garden bird feeders ready for the colder weather to come. There are many different types of bird feeders – the RSPB has this handy guide if you’re new to garden feeders.
It’s really important to thoroughly clean any feeders that you used last winter, or that have been out all year. This is vital to stop disease spreading amongst birds such as the greenfinch. This beautiful little bird was a common sight in gardens but has seen a dramatic decline of 63% since 1993. It has now been moved from the Birds of Conservation Concern’s green list to the red list. One of the reasons for the decline is because of a severe outbreak of the disease trichomonosis, which can be spread by contaminated food and drinking water. Cleaning our feeders thoroughly will help halt the spread.
Cleaning a bird feeder to help prevent disease transmission
Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
We all know that feeding birds over the winter has huge benefits for a wide range of species. But did you know that our fondness in the UK for putting out garden feeders has even changed one species’ migration habits? Traditionally, the blackcap was a summer visitor to the UK, arriving from Southern Europe to breed in the spring and returning there in the autumn.
But since the 1970s, there has been an increasing trend for blackcaps to appear in the UK during the winter, even being spotted in our gardens! Tracking and ringing by the British Trust for Ornithology has shown that these winter visitors come not from southern Europe, but from Central Europe (eg Germany). It seems that the lure of our UK winter feeders has been strong enough to lead to the evolution of this new migratory route and wintering strategy. These days it’s an increasingly common site to see one of these winter visitors from central Europe on your feeder – amazingly the Blackcap ranked 26th in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2022, a result that would have been inconceivable only decades before. And all thanks to our love for feeding our garden birds!
As well as garden feeders, blackcaps are attracted to berries such as ivy, holly, and elder during autumn and winter. They seem to enjoy sweet foods, so leaving your windfall apples and pears will give them a welcome treat. Blackcaps will even explore plants such as winter flowering mahonia for the nectar. So by making your garden more ‘blackcap friendly’, hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to have these lovely birds visiting your garden over the coming months!