Gardeners are being urged to leave one common household fruit out for robins in October in a bid to help them prepare for the harsh winter ahead.
Robins do not migrate south for winter like many other birds, but these Christmas card characters sometimes need a helping hand finding food, especially as temperatures drop.
Garden experts at Ark Wildlife are urging gardeners to help these classic British birds through the colder months with various foods that will help them pack on weight for the colder nights because it’s now ‘more important than ever’ as natural habitats decline.
Ark Wildlife says: “These beautiful birds do not migrate south for the colder months, leaving them at the mercy of the icy British winter – and with safe, warm habitats in increasingly short supply on our shores, it’s more important than ever to do what you can to protect robins.
“But feeding robins is also one of the best things you can do – supplementing their diet to add to what they can forage from the ground themselves and ensuring they get the nutrients they need. They are omnivores so will eat a wide range of food, giving you plenty of options when it comes to feeding them. Robins can lose up to 10% of their body weight just staying warm on a single winter’s night, so making sure its fat reserves are sufficiently topped up really can save a robin’s life.
“Robins eat a wide variety of food, including worms, insects, seeds, nuts and fruit depending upon the time of year. As winter nears, they tend to focus more on fatty and nutrient-rich food such as worms and insects.”
The experts urge gardeners to leave out suet pellets, fat balls, fruits and berries in winter. You should also leave mealworms and calcium worms.
The fruits listed by Ark Wildlife are raisins. It adds: “We need to look out for wildlife, especially during cold winter months when natural food supplies are scarce. Give your garden birds a treat by soaking a handful of our raisins overnight and then adding them to a ground feeder or bird table. You’ll soon have a hungry crowd visiting your garden at dinner time.”
Of course, don’t do this if you own cats or dogs as raisins are actually toxic to cats and dogs.