Wondering why birds aren’t visiting your garden? Seeing wildlife in your garden can be so fulfilling and exciting, so it can leave you wondering why you don’t see any when the birds don’t show up. Creating a biodiverse garden even improves your wellbeing, as shown in a recent RHS wellbeing study, so if the birds aren’t flocking to your garden, here are our tips to help you encourage wildlife to your space.
Food is why birds aren’t visiting your garden
The first thing is that birds need food. They eat berries from trees, hedgerows, shrubs and perennials, and insects from the soil and anywhere else they can find them. They enjoy seeds from plants and love picking up worms from the compost. If your garden is short on plants there will be nothing for birds to eat. Creating a biodiverse space will soon encourage them in. Supplementary food is also important so try putting up bird feeders with various foods that will attract different species.
Resting spaces could be why birds aren’t visiting your garden
Birds need to rest and shelter and build nests. If there isn’t anywhere for them to perch on for rest or to scout for a possible nesting site, then your garden won’t be of much interest to them at all. Provide a suitable perch by planting native hedging, and a mixture of evergreen and deciduous trees. Even a small tree will help in a small garden, and if the trees also provide food, that's an added benefit for the birds.
- Don’t forget to put up bird boxes for nesting sites away from where people will walk by, and remember they also need water. So a birdbath can be a great attraction, plus it is fun watching them splash around.
Predators might be why birds aren’t visiting your garden
It can be a tough world out there for birds as they face difficult weather, finding food, rearing fledglings and anything else that comes their way. They do have predators such as Sparrowhawks, so if you see one flying overhead frequently, you may notice that there won’t be many birds around. This is another good reason why having safe spaces for birds to hide is important. Hedging, evergreen trees and nesting boxes will all be helpful to create a safe haven.
Paving could be why birds aren’t visiting your garden
If you have paved over your garden, if you don’t have a lawn, or you have an artificial lawn - there will be fewer birds. Birds pull worms and insects from lawns for food, and there’s no chance of that with concrete! Greening up your space will definitely help to attract our feathered friends to the garden.
Find many plants, accessories and food to attract birds to your garden in our store.
