Guides on Backyard Bird Guide — Feeding & Identifying Garden Birds

The Best Bird Seed for Beginners

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Walk into any garden centre and the choice of bird food is overwhelming — mixes, blocks, suet, mealworms, nyjer. For a beginner, the answer is simpler than it looks. Start with one good seed and add variety later.

Start with black-oil sunflower seed

If you buy only one thing, buy black-oil sunflower seed. It attracts the widest range of garden birds — finches, tits, cardinals, sparrows, nuthatches — because the shells are thin enough for small beaks and the kernels are rich in the fat birds need. It is the closest thing to a universal bird food.

How to Attract More Birds to Your Garden

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A feeder full of good seed is a fine start, but the gardens that teem with birds offer three things, not one: food, water, and cover. Add all three and you will see far more species — including ones that never touch a feeder.

Where Should You Place a Bird Feeder?

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You can buy the best feeder and the best seed and still see almost nothing if the feeder is in the wrong place. Position matters as much as what is in it.

Near cover, but not too near

Birds want an escape route. A feeder two to three metres from a shrub or tree is ideal: close enough that birds can dive for safety, far enough that a cat cannot lurk in the branches and pounce. A feeder marooned in the middle of an open lawn often stays empty because birds feel exposed.