Gardeners are being urged to put pasta out on bird tables in a bid to help them out during the vital nesting season. Many people with gardens probably feel a bit intimidated by the idea of leaving food out for the birds, imagining that it has to be an expensive, specialist mixture bought from a garden centre or DIY store, and that it’s a pastime just for people with money to spare on feeding random wildlife.
But actually, the RSPCA says anyone can help feed birds on the cheap, without having to buy any specialist food at all – you can just use some common, inexpensive kitchen foods that you almost certainly have in the back of your cupboard. As well as rice, potatoes and cheese, gardeners can leave out cooked pasta on bird tables this June.
It must be cooked pasta, never raw, though, as raw could be unsafe for birds to eat, so make sure to boil and cook it properly first.
Many bird species are under threat thanks to habitat loss, reductions in food such as the drop in insect numbers, as well as climate change and pollution.
That’s why gardeners are being urged to do what they can to help birds out by providing food for them, which in turn will help birds feed their nesting young too, which is still a concern in June as birds rear their hatched chicks in the nest.
The RSPCA says gardeners can leave out fruits, seeds, unsalted chopped peanuts and food scraps this spring.
It says: “Birds love to eat: fruit – apples, pears and soft fruits; Suitable seeds and grains – like nyjer, millet, oats, and sunflower seeds; Peanuts – must be unsalted, fresh and that they don’t contain aflatoxin (a poison caused by fungus mould). Young chicks might choke on whole peanuts, so always put them in feeders with a smaller mesh; Food scraps – cooked pasta, rice and boiled potatoes or cheese and uncooked and unsalted bacon rind.”
Whatever you leave out, be sure to clear away any uneaten food at the end of the day, and clean any bird table regularly.
This is because the RSPB recently pulled flat bird tables from sale while it investigates the possible spread of disease it says could be caused by flat tables, due to food being left out exposed to the elements. It recommends cleaning bird tables, as well as nesting boxes, regularly and removing any uneaten food.
