There are many varieties of wild birds in Britain but not all can be expected to visit the urban garden. For the most part we can depend on common birds such as the House Sparrow or the Starling families but more exotic birds are rare. Did I say rare?

When I was a boy in the 1960’s it was common to see many sparrows flocking and starlings would blacken the brightest summer sky as they wheeled and swept along like silvered fish around a coral reef. Hundreds, thousands, of birds in one great flock twisting and twirling in a seemingly endless frenzy of choreographed dance around the wild blue stage. What happened?

The skies are empty and the greatest flock of starlings to visit my neighbourhood number in single figures. The sparrows come in almost as many numbers. What have we done to this planet?

Many birds face extinction and most people don’t care. I watch as adults and children alike litter the road without conscious thought and I know that we are running headlong into extinction ourselves. Why do we have to take so many things with us?

To survive, all species, even us, have three basic needs:-

• Habitat
• Food
• Water

The more ‘civilized’ we become, the more we destroy the natural world. Industry, urbanisation and modern farming methods have destroyed habitat, food and polluted the water supplies.

Food has been poisoned with insecticides and weed killers that have prevented the growth of natural, high-energy oil rich seeds available off the wild plants that grew alongside arable crops. Valuable food sources are therefore removed or laced in deadly chemicals.

Water, though still plentiful is infested with pesticides, industrial and domestic waste and chemical pollution. Walk along a natural waterway in Britain now and try to see the myriad life forms that occupied them in my youth, fresh water shrimp, crayfish or even fish. Many times you will think the water sterile. Even lifting rocks sees no movement from beneath. Good to drink? I think not.

My own garden is something of a haven for wild birds (cat hazards set aside) but it wasn’t always so. I now have several small trees in my garden and many shrubs. Not everyone has the room for even one small tree and great care must be taken when choosing trees and shrubs for the garden as a nightmare can easily be the result.

But it takes more than that to make a suitable garden for wild birds. In fact a yard rather than a garden could offer two of the three most important things:-

• Food
• Water

A garden might provide the third option but a simple thing such as a well-sited bird box may also provide this. This may seem like it is all too much trouble and effort. Blue Tits adorn many home gardens and Greenfinch too. These fine birds need to consume 30% of their body weight each day to survive, and their diet needs to be highly nutritious (and high energy) food.

Is it really to much trouble to give a little back in a world where we are nearly all takers?

Beware of many seed bags sold as wild bird food. Many lack the high-energy food needed and even include flake style dry dog food. DO NOT believe any dealer who tries to convince you that the birds love it and it is highly nutritious for them. This dealer is telling you barefaced lies or relaying barefaced lies from their supplier/ employer. It has no place in wild bird food and will be left to rot. If it is on a bird table it will clog in wet conditions and form a bacteria breeding muck. It is especially a problem near the bottom of the bag where masses of it has powdered.

So what do you feed them? As birds carry little or no body fat they need the energy rich foods referred to so that they can convert it into 'body fuel'.

Look in the bags for Black Sunflower Seeds and Sunflower Hearts. There should be a mass of many different seeds but don’t think because a package is produced by a commercially known provider that it is sufficient in calories for survival. If such a product is considered then dismiss it instantly if it contains cereal-based products. This type of product should issue a table showing calories as with human food. Below is a guide that you will need.

Table 1

This has been produced from RSPB data. Click their logo to visit their own website. Alternatively, if you wish to you can find information on the RSPB's authorised provider here C. J. WildBird Foods Ltd 0800 731 2820. A free handbook is available within the UK on this telephone number and from their website.

You may be misled into thinking that I am a RSPB member but no, they are the UK authority on such matters though and so I would point UK residents wishing to feed wild birds in their garden towards the society. Good advice often sounds like a plug for over-priced goods but there is sound guidance in the societies brochures.

The basic needs are a feed table, a bird bath for fresh water and don’t forget the ground feeders. A little maintenance is all that is needed. Wear protective gloves but clean the table off periodically and blast the bird bath out now and again in summer with a garden hose if you have one. This will blow out algae that collects in the basin. Don’t select a deep bath or many birds may struggle to use it. The Starling’s love a bath and will come time and time again. Their exuberance showers everything around the bath so you will need to keep it topped up. This is a summer activity and the Starling’s will come in for a bath even when it is raining and they are already soaked through! Don’t forget to melt the ice in winter, it is an absolute necessity.

So, when to feed. Essentially you can feed any time between January 1st and December 31st! Recent figures have proven that more birds die from starvation through the summer months than during winter. This is due to the problems noted above and many people think to throw out tidbits for birds in winter but don’t know of the modern problems faced by birds in summer. Don’t put out any peanuts between the end of February and the end of September as young birds may choke and die if adults feed them peanut. I stick with seed usually but in Autumn (the Fall) or if winter is harsh it pays to use fat feeders or to put out bread heavily buttered on one side or use lard. The birds need the extra fat in winter.

So is that it? Well no, it isn’t. By attracting these birds to your garden you have to accept at least some responsibility for them. As your guests you must care for them. Keep the table reasonable and feed ground feeders too. Keep continued fresh water in good supply, don’t let it be fouled. And...

If you are a keen gardener you are in trouble. You can’t attract the birds and continue using lawn feed and weed killer as this is a killer to the birds too. Any chemicals used are forging the kind of problems listed above. So be sure of your commitment.

So, what does come to my garden?

The common ones for sure are the House Sparrows and the Starlings. I sometimes see Tree Sparrows but I am more likely to see hybrids between the two sparrow species rather than Tree Sparrows.

Very common are the Dunnock's. Often called Hedge Sparrows, these ground feeders like the ground cover offered by shrubs and tall flowers so you will need some flower borders at the very least to accommodate these pleasant little birds.

Another lover of ground cover are the Blackbird’s. These also like berry bearing plants especially in winter and cotoneaster’s are particularly welcomed.

These last few years’ new species have started arriving at regular intervals. The Wood Pigeon, occasional feral pigeons and the Collared Dove call in often. This is a sign of their disappearing environment. Other species have stopped coming, probably for the same reasons. These include the Pied Wagtail and the Common Pipit (at one time a visitor in the winter snows).

Great Tit’s, the acrobatic Blue Tit and Coal Tit’s spend a lot of time in and around the property. Spring often finds a Wren or two wandering the garden with rare visits from the Ruddock, now commonly called the Robin in line with main line Europe. This is odd as Robin’s are territorial birds but we see these in winter usually and the food probably draws them. Woodpecker’s, the beautiful Goldfinch and Chaffinch’s are very rare visitors to our garden although the Chaffinch seems quite numerous in gardens only two or three miles from my home.

So, anything from the exotic to the mundane comes a calling, true though it is that the exotic are very scarce. To see uncommon callers every time they call would be extremely unlikely which means that I never know of the truly wary visitors. Those that call early in the dawn light when the streets are quiet may never be witnessed. There is still great pleasure in observing the regulars.

Redwings, Song Thrush, Meadow Thrush and Robin are winter visitors to my garden but only now and again do any set up residence for several weeks. The harsh winter weather of my childhood is now just a memory and it is odd to experience these conditions and it only occurs sporadically for a limited time (days) not annually for months.

When the young birds come with their parents to feed and learn where to come it is especially pleasing. Now you feel that you are putting something back. Many young don’t survive their first year but thankfully, over a decade of feeding the birds has only seen one loss in the garden but how it died is a mystery. If I can help any species to survive one more year then I have given hope for the future of their kind. I can give no greater gift.

Finally I must add one last comment. It isn't an easy one and it is one that I hesitated to make but here goes. It is natural to feel an affinity for your visitors and by all means chase off the local cat's that come for sport but draw the line here. A squirrel pole will prevent these from robbing the table (but these must need the food too). The crunch is if a Sparrow Hawk or another predator finds your feeding zone and comes to hunt. You cannot interfere and let things be, as they must. In many years feeding wild birds this has never been a problem but some territorial problems can crop up especially in winter (gulp!). The Hawk may have young to rear or is just living by the rules Mother Nature set down. No matter how difficult, you must turn away

Below is a button linking to a photo gallery of the most likely visitors to my garden with a few scarcer guests dropped in for good measure. When the page loads just hover your mouse pointer over the name of a bird to view its photograph.