Garden Q&A: Should we change our bird-feeding practices in summer?

Is it time to change to safe, seasonal bird-feeding in our gardens? Kya deLongchamps looks at the latest advice

BirdWatch Ireland suggests no feeding is the best approach from May to October. File picture

Like many, I’ve long been feeding my garden birds year-round, and this year has already proved to be a very special one. There are woodpeckers, siskins, jays and red squirrels here this spring, and thrilled to see new species every single day, I had been more indulgent than ever with peanuts, fat-balls and mixed seed spread over five stations around the yard. However, new findings highlighted by BirdWatch Ireland and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have forced my hand.

Despite desperately wanting the nesting woodpeckers to continue to enjoy a daily feast, I’ve taken down all but two of the dispensers and emptied the bird bath I had balanced on the back of a quad bike. It seems we’re unknowingly killing members of our precious native bird population with our clumsy kindness. An evidence review into the pros and cons of feeding garden birds found strong evidence that supplementary feeding promotes the spread of diseases in gardens, including the trichomonosis parasite, according to the RSPB conservation scientists: “Trichomonosis has caused serious declines in greenfinch and chaffinch populations and may now be causing a rapid decline amongst bullfinches. The scientific evidence shows that the risk of trichomonosis outbreaks is highest in summer and autumn.”