Feasts of fat! Not for us...for the birds.

So...Autumn is officially upon us. Days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer. With the long nights and Autumnal weather, the night temperatures start to decrease and birds find it more and more difficult to make it through the hours of darkness. Add in the frosts, a lack of insects and frozen ground and it a recipe for disaster for many birds.

Many of our garden birds are tiny, the Blue Tit for example weighs in at a ¼ ounce during the summer, however, this weight will not get the bird through our winter.

So, this is this time of year that many of our birds start building up fat reserves, some for migration and some to get them through the long cold nights ahead.

Our songbirds will spend 85% of their daily activity searching out food and during a typical winters night the bird will lose up to 10% of their body weight simply by keeping warm!

Keeping our bird tables well stocked from now on in is incredibly important for our garden birds.

Our small garden birds will try to increase their fat deposits and will increase body weight by a massive 30-40%.

Fat and suet based products are ideal for Tits, Robins, Thrushes and Finches to make a one shop stop and take on valuable fuel. The bird table can be likened to a re-fuelling station and with a good supply of high energy and high protein foods the birds will find it much easier to feed up and get through the night.

Once birds get to know about your feeding station they will not just remember were it is, but they will start to rely upon it, so, keeping it well stocked is really important.

It would be like us heading to our local supermarket for the weekly shop only to find they've sold out of everything... where to now?...nightmare!

Using a combination of food types will obviously attract different bird species, Tits tend to go for insect infused fat feasts, Robins love Meal Worm and our special Robin Fat Feasts, Thrushes go for the fruity variety and Starlings...you guessed it...go for any flavour!!

If you can, keep a good supply of peanuts (Tits) and Niger Seed (Goldfinches love 'em) as well as the fat based feeds.

Try and have a supply of fresh water nearby too, this helps with digestion. Birds eating seed mix need a drink, seeds are incredibly dry and during winter many water supplies freeze over so offering water daily is a great help.

All season seed mixes contain a variety of seed, fruit and insects which are brilliant for bringing birds into the garden. If used regularly the bird table will be busy throughout the season, offer the food in different ways to attract more species... on the ground for Dunnocks, thrushes and sparrows, in feeders for tits and finches and the bird table for Robins, Sparrows and Finches.

Once the birds know its there you'll get a constant stream of visitors and maybe attract something a little more unusual. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs are wintering in Britain more frequently now and having one of these in the winter garden is a delight. These warblers normally winter in Africa but by taking a chance and surviving the winter here they can be first at their breeding site in Spring, however, it is a gamble, they have to make it through the long cold winter months.