There are few greater or simpler pleasures than catching the dawn chorus as you wake to begin the day. Find out how to attract birds to your garden to enjoy the wonders of nature from your own home.
Whether your home is set on a rural acreage or a suburban street, you can attract birds into your garden by following these four steps. You will encounter the most success when combining all four to create the best offering to garden birds that you can. Your garden will soon become simply too good to resist.
- Plant habitats
It’s important to remember when trying to attract birds that garden birds are still wild. As such, each day is structure around fulfilling several core needs such as evading predation and seeking shelter and food. Address these issues and your garden will become far more inviting.
While you’ll probably have spotted a wood pigeon clambering along your fence line, many birds prefer to be less exposed. Taller planting can therefore be hugely beneficial if you want to attract birds to your garden. Incorporate hedgerows and trees into your garden design to provide these sheltered places to perch. With a safe retreat not far away, birds are more likely to risk venturing out to feed on your patch.
Homeowners would also do well to consider the other varieties of shrubs and flowers in their gardens, adjusting them where necessary. Birds visit your garden for a purpose, and by providing plentiful food for them you will likely encounter more birdlife as a result.
A natural means of doing so is by planting not only plants for perches, but specifically selecting varieties that attract insects. Create an environment in which bugs thrive, and the birds will soon come to feast.
It could be as simple as laying a patch of wildflower meadow turf. This can be bought ready to lay as well as to seed. Another easy adjustment is to avoid pruning and deadheading while seeds remain. These might be redundant to you, but it’s all a matter of perspective – they are often valuable food sources for the birds.
2. Introduce a water source
3. Offer birds a home
4. Options for feeding