You don’t have to wear binoculars or an anorak and a dodgy hat to appreciate the beauty of birds. A simple bird feeder in your back garden will attract many varieties like the Robin, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Chaffinches and many more. You will have lots of visits from your winged friends if you can provide them with the right bird food for winter.

Water is another necessity for birds that people tend to forget about in winter. With the cold weather we all assume water will be readily available, however cold winters can mean dry winters and water of course becomes ice. So make sure there’s a fresh, ice free, bowl of water in the garden for them to drink from and bathe in. Don’t feed them milk as their stomachs can’t digest it. However cheese (grated if possible) is perfectly fine for birds and may attract new breeds to your garden.

Picking the right bird stand is your first step. Not all birds will use the perches on the stand, some will like pecking at fallen seeds or feed from individual hanging feeders. The more you watch your birds the more you will find out their preferences and favourite feeding areas. If you do buy a bird table then I would suggest a sturdy one that isn’t going to shake. They will fly off at the first sign of an unstable stand. Place your table away from fences and walls, birds won’t come back if a feline intruder pounces whilst they’re eating. Their instincts will alert them to any danger of movement and they’ll be unlikely to return.

Next is the food. As insects won’t be available to birds in the winter, seeds become their daily diet. There are a lot of mixed bird seeds on the market which are bulked up. I tend to avoid anything with artificial coloured lumps in them as they’re usually dog biscuits which can’t be eaten unless softened by soaking. A good bird seed mixture should contain millet, sunflower seeds and flaked maize. I also like the usual choice of peanuts as they are high in fats, but don’t feed them salted peanuts, the high salt content could kill them. As small birds can choke on whole peanuts, I usually crush them before putting them out.

Black sunflower seeds are great all year long as well and they have a higher fat content than the striped sunflower seeds. It’s advisable to put the richer seeds like Nyger and sunflower in feeders as they will be more expensive and you will lose a lot to the weather and other animals if you just scatter them on the ground. The Nyger seed has more oil than a lot of other seeds and is high in calories, so ideal for winter feeding. As they aren’t a cheap type of seed you can always mix them in with others. You should find the number of Goldfinches in your garden increases with Nyger seeds.

Wet dog and cat food is a good alternative for earthworms in the winter weather and kitchen scraps can be used as they contain fats and carbohydrates that won’t be found in bird seeds. However don’t feed them cooking fat that has hardened from your Sunday roast as it will contain bacteria and salt that is unsuitable for birds. Instead use lard or beef suet. It’s strongly advised from the RSPB not to leave the suet fat balls in nylon meshes as birds can get themselves caught. Instead put them in hanging feeders and keep them off the ground as you may attract unwanted visitors.