Little wanderers in the wild need care over the winter season

Eric Dempsey is a celebrated specialist photographer and author on the birds of Ireland who takes a particular interest in our back yard varieties. He explains how to help them through the darker months, starting with feeding.

“Birds relish variety, so include peanuts (never salted), black sunflower seeds (or hearts) and niger seed for goldfinches in a quality, mixed wildbird seed, plus some fat-balls.”

Can we feed scraps? “There are additional foods they will appreciate, but avoid salted bacon. Try grated cheese, brown bread (crumbed), apples in half and either stuck on branches or left on the ground. Blackcaps, thrushes and starlings love fruit. Once you start feeding, you need to keep going. Bird food can be costly and the problem is that cheap is not always good.