disclosure: this is a sponsored post, we will be paid for writing this post, although all comments are my own, honest thoughts.

As you know I am very keen on nature and introducing my son to all things animal-related – including birds.  We have very mature trees just beyond our garden fence and we spend a lot of time watching our feathered friends.

Sadly my much-loved wooden bird table hasn’t made it through this summer, it finally fell apart.  I’d had it for many years, it had seen me through 3 house moves and a divorce!  So it had served me and my feathered friends well.  At the moment I don’t have the spare funds to buy a new table so am just using a feeder pole and various feeders to try to attract the birds into the garden.

I love birdsong, especially in the Spring when you can hear the young in the nest calling their parents for food.  I can spot a blackbird and blue tit’s call, not so great with others.

So what kinds of bird food can you use to attract birds into your garden? You can see some different seed mixes available here that will help try to attract a range of birds.

Sunflower seeds are a favourite with Sparrows, Chaffinches and Greenfinches and Nyger seeds are great for attracting finches, including goldfinches which I used to see regularly in my previous garden.  I’ve seen them in my neighbour’s garden here, but have not been able to convince them to hop over the fence – yet!

Birdseed mixes containing millet will be helpful in attracting doves as well as sparrows.  We regularly see Collared Doves in our garden.  Mixes contained cracked corn will also help attract Blackbirds, as will raisins scattered on the grass.

Why not try peanuts to encourage a variety of Tits, Dunnocks and if you are really lucky, the odd Woodpecker.

Another idea to attract birds is to use suet balls and cakes, these are great for attracting members of the tit family – we’ve had visits from Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long Tailed Tits.  These are really versatile too as you don’t necessarily need a feeder to hold them, you can just as easily put them straight onto a bird table or a bowl on the ground.

I regularly buy bird seed mixes and suet balls to keep our bird neighbours happy and we’re going to be making our own bird feeder and some bird cake soon to try to attract some more birds into our garden.