Juanita Browne: How feeding the birds can help your mental health and ease eco-anxiety

Who knew watching a blue tit outside your window could be so good for your soul, writes Juanita Browne

Adding bird feeders to your garden, patio, balcony or window offers an extra food supply and often a vital lifeline for garden birds, like the blue tit above. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Winter is a difficult time for garden birds. Insects, an important food staple for birds, die off over winter or are in hibernation, so there’s very little food available. Adding some bird feeders to your garden, patio, balcony or window offers an extra food supply and often a vital lifeline for garden birds. 

Not only will you be helping local bird populations, but these garden visitors will also do something positive for you too: they’ll help your mental health. Pretty to look at, amusing in their antics — as they take turns for access to the feeders — they provide a closer connection with nature, and that’s been proven to be good for our physical and mental health. Adding bird feeders to your school or office garden, too, will bring benefits for students and staff.