Gardeners urged to leave two kitchen scraps on bird tables in March

Gardeners up and down the UK are being urged to leave two kitchen scraps on their bird tables this March and April for a really important reason. It’s bird breeding season over the next two months, with the warmer spring weather bringing all manner of feathered friends from blackbirds to robins, sparrows, thrushes, finches and many others flocking back to our gardens in search of a mate. Because breeding and nesting is so energy intensive, many gardeners leave out extra food at this time of year to help birds - and their young - survive.

You don’t necessarily need to splash out on expensive bird food like mealworms and fat bars, though. In fact, it’s possible to feed the birds using two kitchen scraps. The RSPB says you can leave cooked rice on bird tables, as well as uncooked oats.



The rice needs to be cooked because uncooked rice is unsafe for birds - it can swell up in their stomachs. It also needs to be plain and unsalted. For oats, the opposite is true - they must be uncooked because cooked oats can harden around a bird’s beak and harm them.

In particular, these two foods are good for birds who don’t or can’t feed on hanging feeders, such as blackbirds, who prefer to ground feed on a flat surface. The RSPB adds: "Feed your birds all year if you can, but adjust the amount you put out. Feeding birds in the spring and summer may help them to raise their chicks more successfully.

" Bird food website VinehouseFarm says: “Rolled naked oats are not suitable for hanging tube feeders, as the food will not flow easily down the tube. In addition, some species which eat naked oats can’t use hanging tube feeders – the blackbird being the best example. “Therefore use a bird table or ground tray to feed the rolled naked oats from, plus always supply fresh drinking water close by.

Rolled naked oats should never be cooked before putting them out for birds, as this could result in the food congealing and drying out around the bird’s beak.” Whatever you leave out, be sure to clear away any uneaten food at the end of the day, and clean any bird table regularly. This is because the RSPB recently pulled flat bird tables from sale while it investigates the possible spread of disease it says could be caused by flat tables due to food being left out exposed to the elements.

It recommends cleaning bird tables, as well as nesting boxes, regularly and removing any uneaten food..