David Attenborough has shared simple steps from his Secret Gardens series that you can take in your garden to attract more birds, including robins and blue tits. The national treasure observed that "some British gardens are almost as diverse as tropical rainforests," and there's one straightforward method to enhance your garden's appeal to birds this year.
How to Make Your Garden Bird-Friendly
Whether you possess an extensive plot, an allotment or a modest patch of grass, your outdoor area can significantly contribute to Britain's biodiversity. To diversify your garden space, there's one quick measure with substantial impact that can breathe new life into the nature within your surroundings. During this season, wildlife enthusiasts are particularly eager to attract more birds to their gardens, and creating a suitable environment for them to flourish is simpler than you might imagine.
Protect Birds from Cats
One factor preventing birds from visiting your outdoor space could be the pets residing in your household, particularly cats. Cat owners will recognise their natural hunting instincts towards pests and birds, and you may have discovered their catches indoors, given that cats in Britain are estimated to catch and kill 55 million birds annually. By positioning your bird feeders at greater heights and beyond the reach of hunting predators, you're providing birds with improved access to food.
Attenborough offered an even more straightforward solution, stating: "A bell on the collar reduces pet cats' hunting success by a third." Therefore, fitting a bell to your cat this weekend could simplify matters considerably and enable you to appreciate the wildlife with reduced risk.
Provide the Right Food and Feeders
To entice these bird species into your garden, it's worth bearing in mind that they favour high-energy foods, including mealworms and fat balls, as well as a reliable supply of fresh water. Blue tits in particular are drawn to hanging feeders, while both species depend on feeding boxes fitted with small, easily accessible entry holes.
Let Your Grass Grow Wild
Additional straightforward measures recommended by Attenborough include allowing your lawn and grass to grow freely. Many gardeners choose to participate in 'No Mow May', dedicating an entire month to letting wildlife flourish within its natural surroundings — but there's no reason to stop there. The debut episode of Attenborough's Secret Gardens featured a vole attempting to evade a robotic lawnmower. This reflects the reality of garden life; regardless of size, there are living creatures all around us that deserve greater protection.
Elsewhere in the series, a contrasting garden belonging to Henry and Sarah at a thousand year old Oxfordshire mill house is featured, where the couple have allowed their grass to grow wild. In doing so, they have established a sanctuary for otters, kingfishers and even mallards.
Attenborough says: "Our gardens cover a greater area than all of our national nature reserves combined." It is also believed that 80% of people have access to some form of outdoor space, which could be transformed to accommodate greater wildlife numbers this summer.
