Garden birds struggle to find food during winter months, but wildlife experts reveal simple feeding methods that can bring robins flocking to your garden
A gardening expert has revealed that robins will descend upon your garden this month if you hang one particular item from trees. The colder seasons prove challenging for birds as they hunker down for winter and battle to survive when temperatures nosedive. Yet there are steps homeowners can take to help local wildlife that pop by their gardens.
Speaking on the GrowVeg YouTube channel, host Benedict revealed several methods to lure more birds, such as robins, into your patch. He suggested suspending a coconut from a tree branch and filling it with specific ingredients.
Benedict shared: “During the colder months our birds really need our help and they especially like high fatty foods, really energy foods to keep them warm. Something like these suet fat balls with these seeds in is a really great option.
“Do choose the ones without nets though because they could get their feet caught in those and these can go in feeders, on the ground or on bird tables.
“I’ve also got this little coconut half here filled with suet and that’s really pretty to watch the birds from the window. If you can also provide fresh ice free water for them to bathe in and drink from too.”
Suet balls are energy-packed nourishment for birds crafted from a blend of rendered animal fat (suet), grains and occasionally other components like mealworms or berries. The RSPB offers 50 suet balls for £11, which equates to 22p per ball.
According to the charity Songbird Survival, robins can lose up to 10% of their body weight in a single cold winter night. They also advise people to provide high-energy food to help birds stay warm when natural food sources are scarce.
Benedict isn’t the only one offering advice on how gardeners can support their feathered friends this winter. Peter Ivanov, a gardening expert at Fantastic Gardens, has suggested that using leaves could also attract them.
Referred to as ‘leaf litter’ by British lifestyle magazine and website Woman and Home, creating a compost heap with it could draw in robins.
Peter explained how it works: “Leave leaf litter. Robins forage in leaf litter for worms and insects, so avoid clearing every corner of the garden.
“Start a compost heap. A compost pile provides warmth and attracts invertebrates, which is a natural robin food source. Stop using pesticides. Chemicals reduce insect numbers. If you avoid them, you’ll encourage more of the natural prey robins rely on.”
In addition to creating leaf litter, some experts have recommended watering the lawn to bring worms to the surface for robins to feed on.
Peter also outlined additional food types that robins enjoy consuming, which people could put out to entice them. He said: “Besides that, they’ll also eat soft foods, such as suet, sunflower hearts, raisins soaked to soften and fruit such as chopped apples or pears. Keep in mind that robins are natural ground feeders.
“Robins have a variety of foods they love, with mealworms being a particular favourite, and they enjoy these both live and dried.”
