Hanging feeders and bird tables are mainstays of the idyllic British garden, topped up by well-intentioned ‘bird lovers’. Who can blame us for believing that we’re helping our feathered wildlife by leaving some seeds and nuts out, particularly in the winter when food is scarce? According to a study out this month, we could be doing more harm than good, writes Andrew Gough.

I used to live next door to two die-hard, card-carrying RSPB members, a retiree couple who loved nothing more than to leave food out for the birds in their garden and watch them flitting back and forth. And as a child at primary school, I vividly remember making winter feeders for birds out of seed mixed with ‘suet’ or lard - horrifying to me now as a vegan but completely normal then - and being taught that we were helping birds by giving them food during times of scarcity. It wouldn’t surprise me if kids are still doing this today, hanging nutty balls of cow fat from trees under the approving gaze of their proud parents, nurturing their child’s compassion for animals while a chicken roasts in the oven.

I don’t know whether it is a peculiarity of UK culture, but feeding birds - be they the common-or-garden varieties, or throwing bread crusts to the ducks and geese at the local pond, canal or river - is as quintessentially British as it gets. It’s no coincidence that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has 1.1 million members, 12,000 volunteers and an income of £112 million in 2019/20, making it one of the largest wildlife conservation organisations in the world - quite something considering that all its 200 reserves are in the UK.

In short, ours is a nation of bird lovers, or rather wild bird lovers because chickens and farm-reared ducks and geese don’t count, not to mention quails for their eggs and grouse and other wildfowl raised for hunting. This is the hypocrisy that many self-declared bird lovers ignore, but now there’s something else.

According to a study out in the September issue of the journal Biological Conservation, there is reason to believe that ‘widespread generalised provisioning’ of wildlife including birds could be throwing off the natural order. Not that we as humans are strangers to upsetting ecosystems, but in the case of the seemingly innocent act of feeding birds, the road to hell for conscientious RSPB members could very well be paved with good intentions.

As reported by BBC science correspondent Victoria Gill earlier this week, the issue stems from the boost that feeders are giving to certain dominant species and the resulting population bias. Blue tits, for example, will win out over lesser species, while great tits could be gaining a firmer foothold and pushing out natural migratory species.

"We know from historical research that these species are increasing in number," Dr Alex Lees, co-author of the paper, told the BBC. "A blue tit is a dominant species - it tends to win in interactions and fighting for food or quarrelling for nest sites. Whereas species like willow and marsh tits are subordinate. They tend to lose those in interactions.”

Lees explained that we know willow tit populations are declining because nearly half their nesting attempts fail due to blue tits taking their nesting spaces. With humans leaving food out, and blue tits naturally ‘winning’ fights for that food, we could be helping them further at the expense of willow tits, throwing off what the conservationist described as the natural, seasonal ebb and flow of species numbers.

"Migrant pied flycatchers are in direct competition with great tits for nesting sites," added Lees. "So, again, by boosting the population of great tits in the UK, we may be tipping the balance in favour of these resident species over those summer migrants."

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None of this is to say that we should be pulling down our feeders and taking our bird tables to the local recycling centre, just that more study is needed and to think more about our armchair conservation efforts. By leaving food out, we are effectively engaging in amateur conversation, yet sparing no thought to the complexities of that. We provide food believing that every species will benefit equally, yet would we ever take this approach in any other setting where wild animals are present? Framed in this way, feeding birds starts to feel a little naive.

We already know that feeding ducks and geese bread is a terrible idea, yet many people continue to do it as a pastime, a way to spend a little time with nature. Bread, when it becomes wet and is left uneaten, can harbour microorganisms and pollute waters. Feeding at ponds can also create a dependence on handouts from humans, encouraging birds to stay where they are rather than move on to their natural habitats.

Returning to garden birds, there are steps we can take to encourage more natural feeding. Earlier research led by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and published in Nature Communications tells us that feeding birds can result in the total reorganisation of bird communities across the UK. Blue tits, said Lees, are known to fly several kilometres to reach a feeder that is always topped up.

The message is that for those of us who live less rurally, in urban areas or even among farmlands, our landscape is already managed to a degree. The impact of feeding birds is less stark than it would be if we were in a pristine wilderness. Lees recommends wildlife gardening as an alternative to feeders - that is leaving part of our gardens wild or planting native trees and seasonal fruits, seeds and berries. These, he said, would be more likely to encourage natural feeding and with a wider variety of foods for different species.

It’s a curious quirk of humans that we try to live our lives more harmoniously with nature, yet almost invariably bumble things and do more harm than good. But I don’t believe in appeals to nature, that we should just leave the natural world to do its thing when our very presence has an impact, and with that comes a responsibility to consider conservation. Perhaps the lesson here is that we should never be completely complacent, never think that by leaving food out we’re cancelling out our bad ways or increasing our karma or whatever drives people to do it. And even worse is doing it as a way to ease the guilt of paying for chickens and other farmed birds to be reared in horrendous conditions, their carcasses in our freezers waiting to be cooked and eaten on a Sunday or at Christmas while blue tits eat peanuts outside.

The message I want to leave you with is to be as conscious as possible. If you truly love birds, don’t just leave some seeds out, think more carefully about your attitudes to all animals, not just the pretty little ones that fly around your garden.

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.

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