Gardeners urged to help save beautiful garden birds by doing 1 easy task before autumn

If you want your garden to be a hotspot for birds over autumn and winter, you need to start now. As the colder months approach, food sources become more scarce and birds may struggle to get the energy they need to survive. 

RSPB wildlife gardening expert Adrian Thomas shared his top tips for how to keep  birds happy and healthy throughout the winter with the Royal Horticultural Society. His first tip is to ensure that birds have a fresh water source in your garden. As the winter draws on, it’s important to make sure that the water you provide, such as in a bird bath, doesn’t freeze over.

It’s also a good idea to install some nesting boxes to provide birds with shelter from the cold. These will especially benefit declining species like starlings and swifts. 

Adrian’s third tip is to ensure that you have lots of food in your garden - either natural or provided.

To make sure birds have food naturally you can plant berry-rich hedges and shrubs. Hawthorn, crabapple and rowan are all good options to keep birds coming back.

You can also help birds find natural food sources by not raking all the leaves up. Leave some piles under bushes so that birds can peck through them and look for insects and worms to feed on. 

If you’re providing feed, then things like sunflower hearts, seeds, or meal worms (fresh or dried) are perfect for hungry birds. 

Just make sure that if you are providing food in bird feeders, you keep them clean.

This is important all year round but especially so in winter when diseases are more likely to spread between species.

This is because, in winter, you will get more birds visiting the feeders, which brings the risk of disease spreading between them.