TL:DR – Advice on attracting birds to your garden
I was asked to offer some advice on how to attract more birds to the garden. (Here’s my garden tick list, by the way). I wrote a rather long article with lots of detail and added some bird photos of species we’ve seen in ours. I then asked ChatGPT to summarise the article and give me ten bullet points. This is my heavily edited version of the algorithm’s output:
Attracting Birds to Your Garden:
Provide water: Place shallow bowls or birdbaths with clean water at ground level and/or on a stand. Create a wildlife pond and extend it to create spillover area that becomes permanently muddy and diversifies habitat. [As of early 2024, I’ve attempted to create a spillover for our pond]
Offer bird food: Use a variety of feeders and food to attract different bird species. Use feeders designed for specific types of food such as suet and seed balls, Nyjer seeds, mixed seeds, sunflower hearts, peanuts, and dried mealworms. Move the feeders to different parts of your garden every week or so to avoid too much guano and waste accumulating in one place.
Plant native bushes and trees: Bushes that produce berries in winter can provide a food supply for birds such as Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes, Fieldfares, and Redwings. Ivy flowers and berries can also attract insects and provide food for birds in winter. Bushes and trees also provide shelter and potential nest sites for birds. Create a multi-levelled environment with diverse planting, perhaps terraced, and with lots of nooks and crannies, hiding places, and perching points
Install bird boxes: Place bird boxes fairly high up on posts or trees, with a line of sight from a perching spot opposite and several metres away if possible. Also, look into installing Swift boxes or swift bricks.
Avoid shiny, moving ornaments: Hanging or installing shiny, moving ornaments can startle birds and discourage them from visiting your garden.
Don’t trim or prune too hard: Leaving bushes and trees to grow a little wild and allow wildflowers to bloom, this will encourage insects, which in turn provide food for birds in the form of adults, larvae, and caterpillars. Moreover, don’t be too keen to keep your garden tidy, if you want to see wildlife, it has to be a little wild.
Avoid pesticides and herbicides: There is the potential for harm to birds and their food sources in your garden.
Don’t scatter bread or cooked products: These can be high in sugar and salt and are not suitable for birds. They can also attract rats.
Monitor birds at the feeders and birdbath for signs of illness: If you notice birds looking ill or with lumps on their heads or bodies, remove all feeders, discard uneaten contents, and clean thoroughly. Wait a couple of weeks before putting the feeders out again to allow diseased birds to disperse.
Avoid Astroturf and excessive paving or gravel: Basically, don’t design your garden to limit natural habitats for the wildlife.
At the last count, I’d ticked more than 50 bird species in and above our garden. You can find the more or less complete list here.