Hanging out
22nd February 2026
© Richard Campey Photography
If you were inspired by the recent Big Garden Bird Watch weekend, Richard Campey shares his top tips for adding hanging feeders to your garden
Do you need a lot of outdoor space to be able to feed the birds?
Birds can be found in gardens of all shapes and sizes. Even if you have limited space, it is worth adding a feeder as you never know what might find it and begin visiting your garden regularly.
Do birds need feeding all year round?
Opinion differs on this. Bird feeders are most utilised during the winter months when natural food is more scarce. But with increased bird populations, due to garden feeding, in some species argues that feeding all year round can be helpful.
Where is the best place to position feeders?
Birds often move through gardens using habitats like hedgerows as pathways. So, placing feeders close to these pathways is a good place to start. It also provides them with cover to escape to, should a sparrowhawk be on the prowl.
Do all birds use hanging feeders?
No, a variety of birds can visit a garden and will utilise a range of feeders. Species such as blue tit, great tit, greenfinch and goldfinch will use hanging feeders. However, species like blackbird, robin, and collard dove prefer to feed on the ground. Hanging feeders like the Big Easy range make the all-important regular cleaning easy as all the ports and top and bottom sections can be removed. Check the websites of organisations like the RSPB and the British Trust for Ornithology for up-to-date guidance on hygiene and feeding.
There are lots of feed options out there, if you can just do one, which is best?
Sunflower hearts give the best energy value to a bird and it is a no mess feed.
Are there any garden birds which are choosier about food or have specific needs?
Blackbird and robin tend to prefer mealworms. Great spotted woodpecker and nuthatch are more inclined to feed on peanuts or suet pellets.
Feeding peanuts in a seed or open feeder during the breeding season can lead to juvenile birds choking, so either feed kibbled peanuts or in a mesh feeder so the birds have to break up the peanut.
What else do birds need?
Making sure fresh water is available is crucial. Obviously, this is needed during summer months but don’t neglect this in the winter, where natural water sources might be frozen. Placing bird boxes in your garden will allow some birds an easy nesting home.
Richard is owner of The One Stop Nature Shop at Dalegate Market, Burnham Deepdale, and stocks a wide range of feeders and feeds.
