Feed Garden Birds from Your Kitchen Cupboard in Winter

Feeding garden birds in winter is one of the easiest ways to support UK wildlife during cold weather. Natural food sources such as insects, seeds and berries become scarce, and birds need extra energy to survive freezing nights. Specialist foods can be expensive to buy and maintain over the years so there are ways to reduce the costs of feeding birds over winter including offering small amounts of food from our own larders. The key here is in offering small amounts of plain, unflavoured, and unadulterated food at a time.

We are all feeling the pinch, while specialist bird food is ideal, many safe foods for garden birds can be found in your kitchen cupboard, making winter feeding accessible and affordable for everyone.

Why Feeding Garden Birds in Winter Is Important

During winter, birds burn more energy just staying warm. Frost, snow and frozen ground make it harder to find food, increasing the risk of starvation.

Providing food in winter helps birds to:

• Maintain body heat
• Survive cold nights
• Stay healthy and strong
• Prepare for the breeding season

Regular feeding also attracts a wider variety of UK garden birds, including robins, blackbirds, tits and sparrows.

Safe Kitchen Cupboard Foods for Garden Birds

Many everyday foods can be fed safely when prepared correctly.

Plain Cereals

Plain, uncooked, raw porridge oats are excellent winter food for birds such as robins and blackbirds. Unsalted, unsweetened, and not having been in milk, dry, unflavoured cereals, like cornflakes, can be offered in small amounts as well as raw oats.

Use dry plain oats and cereals only
Avoid cooked, salted, sweetened, or flavoured cereals or packets of instant or microwave porridge and cereals.

Plain Rice

Both cooked and uncooked rice are perfectly safe for birds when served plain and unseasoned.

Best for larger seed eating birds like pigeons, doves and blackbirds

Plain Pasta

Cooked, unseasonsed pasta, broken into small pieces is sometimes appreciated. Wholemeal pasta is better to use than the ones made from refined flours.

Dried or Fresh Fruit

Dried fruits such as raisins, sultanas and currants are popular with robins and blackbirds and provide quick energy. Don’t use tinned fruits or dried fruits infused in juices, syrups, and other liquids.

Always soak dried fruit in fresh, clean water before feeding

Fresh fruit cut in half, particularly apples, we find, are very much enjoyed by birds, especially blackbirds.

Please note that grapes and dried fruits, like raisins, sultanas, and currants, must not be put out where dogs may access them, as even tiny amounts of these can be poisonous to dogs. Call a vet immediately if you think your dog may have ingested them.

Unsalted Nuts

Crushed, unsalted nuts are ideal for tits and finches.

Never feed salted, flavoured, coated, or whole nuts in case they choke the birds and their chicks.

Mild Hard Cheddar

A tiny amount of plain mild cheddar crumbled or grated is appreciated, especially by Robins.

Don’t offer other cheeses like soft, and semi-soft cheeses, or hard cheeses that are flavoured, coloured, smoked, veined, or infused with other things, these are not safe for birds.

Peas and Sweetcorn

Thawed peas and sweetcorn are readily eaten by larger birds like pigeons and they are a great alternative to bread to take to the park for the ducks and geese too.

Hard Boiled Plain Eggs

Unsalted and unseasoned hard boiled egg chopped up can be fed to birds

The shell can be crushed up and offered as it can help with providing a bit of calcium, especially useful during the breeding season.

Fats

Traditional uncooked lard and beef suet are favoured in winter as long as there is no salt or flavourings used. Chopped, unsmoked, and unsalted bacon rind can be fed in small amounts.

You can roll seeds, dried fruit, plain crushed nuts, and plain cereals, into soft, room temperature, but not heated lard to make your own fat balls. Great fun activity with the children.

No fats that have been used for cooking should be offered as it often has salt and other additions in it.

Bread, Cakes and Biscuits

Yes I know, slightly against the “grain” here (pun fully intended), you can feed a very small amount of plain types of bread, cake, or biscuit. Wholemeal types are better than white refined flours, although they can be used too, and with no additions like butter, spread, or sandwich fillers or biscuit coatings to make sure the birds can digest them. These can be readily taken when soaked in fresh clean water.

There is very little nutrition in baked goods so feed very sparingly so the birds don’t fill themselves up on “junk” foods.

Foods You Should Never Feed Garden Birds

Avoid feeding birds the following foods:

• Salted foods
• Seasoned foods
• Milk or dairy drinks
• Raw lentils, beans or pulses
• Chocolate
• Mouldy or spoiled food

Winter Bird Feeding Tips

To keep birds safe and healthy:

• Remove and discard any uneaten food daily as it can easily attract rats or become mouldy
• Clean feeders and bird tables regularly
• Provide fresh clean water daily and break ice in freezing weather
• Feed little and often to reduce waste
• Be consistent, especially during cold spells
• Add only small amounts of foods at a time, not all will be eaten, the birds will let you know what they do and don’t like

Helping UK Garden Birds Through Winter

Feeding garden birds from your kitchen cupboard is a simple action that makes a big difference. By offering safe winter bird food, you can help birds survive harsh weather while enjoying nature in your own garden.