Install a Bird Bath

• Easy to do
• Could be free if you can find the right items
• Maintenance is daily but easy – just clean out and add more water

Birds need fresh water every day, they love to drink and bathe in shallow areas of clean water. No one is quite sure why birds bathe but they do very much enjoy a bath and it’s fun to watch them.

You can buy a bird bath and install it in the garden but you can also put out any shallow container from an old saucer to a plant saucer. The important thing is it has clean fresh water daily.

It’s also a good idea to add a few pebbles that rise out of the water to the bath as this helps any animal, like bees or beetles, that might fall in trying to get a drink. They will be able to get onto the pebbles to dry off and fly away when they are ready.

You can place the bird bath on the ground or up higher, some good ready made bird baths come with a stand. Make sure it is somewhere the birds can get to easily and where they are able to spot predators and fly away quickly if needed. Also make sure it is somewhere you can see, firstly so you can enjoy watching the birds and secondly to remind you to clean and replace the water daily.

For an added attraction float some dried mealworms in the water, it’s easier for smaller birds to eat mealworms when they have been in water and will definitely make sure some birds visit. Birds are nervous of new things so give it a couple of weeks for birds to visit, if they don’t visit after then, you could try to move it elsewhere in the garden.

The bird bath in the image above is a cement bird bath dish on an old side table metal stand which used to have a mosaic top (until it broke), inside we put some paddlestones to help any small birds or insects from getting into difficulties. Butterflies, bees and other insects sit and bask on the paddlestones in the sun and drink from the water in summer. Birds visit all throughout the year and this is the most visited bird bath in the garden. The two juvenile Starlings have just had a bath and are possibly wondering why the mealworms haven’t reappeared.