This year's RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch will take place on January 29th and 30th, this is the RSPB's biggest event of the year; encouraging people to count the birds in their garden.

To tie in with this event, from 11th January, the RSPB are offering new adult members a choice of free gift that includes the RSPB classic apex nest box if you join by 31 March. Or, you can choose the RSPB Handbook of British Birds or bird feeder with seed – all perfect gifts to help you enjoy the birds in your garden.

Big Garden Birdwatch encourages people all over the UK to count the birds in their garden for just one hour over the weekend. It’s very simple to take part and provides the RSPB with information and patterns in bird numbers that help prioritise their conservation work. More details about the event and how people can join in can be found by clicking this link.  If you register by 19th Jan you will receive a free information pack and 10% off bird food.

• Big Garden Birdwatch Results! - For the first time in the survey’s 30-year history, the long-tailed tit has flown into the Big Garden Birdwatch top tenTweet ...
• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...

Planting shrubs and trees such as Rowans, Cotoneasters, Pyracanthas, Hawthorns, and Yews provide a marvellous source of winter food for the birds but sadly there just isn’t enough to go round. Click on the links above to buy yours for planting this spring.

Until your plants establish the birds are relying on you to provide them with the resources they need to see them through the long, cold winter months. Here's what you need to keep your garden birds happy and healthy this winter.

Putting up a few bird houses or roosting pockets now will get the birds used to them before nesting time and may also be used as shelter during the colder days.

Do your bit to help the birds…

• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...
• Bird Tables and Bird Accessories from RawGarden - RawGarden bring you the best of bird tables and accessories. The perfect festive gift! They’ve got FSC certified bird tables and nesting boxes as well as Bird Feeding Stations that are excellent products to attract, feed and water all types of birds. All of these bird products are from the trusted and well known company ...

They've got FSC certified bird tables and nesting boxes as well as Bird Feeding Stations that are excellent products to attract, feed and water all types of birds. All of these bird products are from the trusted and well known company Tom Chambers.

Tom Chambers Bird Tables

Tom Chambers Thatched Resin Roof Bird Table

The Tom Chambers Thatched Resin Roof Bird Table is crafted from Swedish redwood, with a shaped upright column, heavy duty cross base and thatched roof to make it an attractive feature in your garden. Includes drainage to keep bird feed dry and palatable. Perfect for keeping your garden guests happy.
Our Price £119.99

Tom Chambers Dovesdale Bird Table

This Dovesdale slate roofed bird table range is crafted from Swedish Redwood with genuine slate roofing. The bird table features shaped upright columns and heavy duty cross bases. There is also a drainage facility along the sides of the platform to keep the food dry. This is great for larger gardens.
Our Price £99.99

Tom Chambers Borrowdale Bird Table

The Tom Chambers Borrowdale Bird Table is crafted from Swedish redwood with shaped rims, roof uprights and heavy duty base. Includes drainage facilty to keep bird feed dry and palatable.
Our Price £69.99

Tom Chambers Ultimate Bird Feeding Station

This practical and decorative handcrafted bird care station is the ultimate all-in-one feeding, watering and bathing station for the discerning bird. The ultimate bird station includes a powder coated steel feeder pole (approx 285cm high), 4arm bracket, small bracket, heavy duty fat ball hanger, seed tray, water dish and a double stabiliser to hold your bird station firmly in position.
Our Price £44.99

Tom Chambers Bird Station Obelisk

The Tom Chambers Bird Station Obelisk is an excellent garden feature for feeding and bathing birds. It includes a spiral finial, ring supports, bird feeder hook, water dish, fat ball hooks and large mesh seed tray. Perfect for keeping your garden guests happy.
Our Price £39.99

Tom Chambers Posh Bird Feeding Station with FREE Seed Feeder

This practical and decorative handcrafted bird care station is the poshest all-in-one feeding, watering and bathing station for the discerning bird. The posh bird station includes a powder coated steel feeder pole (approx 285cm high), a double hanging detailed bracket, single bracket with extra small scroll, fat ball hanger, seed tray, water dish and a stabiliser to hold your bird station firmly in position.
Our Price £39.99

Tom Chambers Fat Bird Nesting Box - 32mm

32mm entrance, two colour stain, easy to clean - just unscrew the base. Designed to attract various species such as Tits, Tree Sparrows and Pied Flycatchers. Constructed from sustainable timber. Treated with environmentally friendly wood.
Our Price £13.99

Tom Chambers Bird Station Patio Stand

This powder coated steel heavy duty patio base can be used to support any of the Tom Chambers Bird Station range. This base allows bird stations to be used on a patio or solid surface.
Our Price £16.99

Round Terracotta Bird Pot

Attracting all kinds of wild birds the terracotta bird balls make great nesting sites. There is a built in hook for hanging and a twig for the birds to perch on. The back is open for cleaning and to ensure a close fit to the wall. Available in 3 sizes to accommodate different size birds.
Our Price From £11.99

Tom Chambers Bird Table Accessory Set

This bird table accessory kit is a perfect add-on to our slate roofed bird tables. They can be easily screwed onto the post of your bird table or garden equipment to provide an extra feeding/resting place for your garden birds.
Our Price £9.99

• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...
• Big Garden Birdwatch Results! - For the first time in the survey’s 30-year history, the long-tailed tit has flown into the Big Garden Birdwatch top tenTweet ...

If you're looking for a gift for someone with a love for wildlife and birds, why not give a nature experience that lasts all year round and includes some amazing benefits?

RSPB Membership offers FREE entry to over 100 nature reserves across the country and a FREE quarterly magazine that's packed with amazing photos of birds and wildlife plus news and views on nature and the environment.

What's more, you can also choose a FREE joining gift The RSPB Nature Guide book is packed with seasonal, fun-filled ideas and activities to help the whole family get the most out of nature, both indoors and out. Perfect for families looking to entertain the kids during their summer holidays - whatever the weather!!

• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Big Garden Birdwatch Results! - For the first time in the survey’s 30-year history, the long-tailed tit has flown into the Big Garden Birdwatch top tenTweet ...
• Why should you feed the birds during the winter? - Until your plants establish the birds are relying on you to provide them with the resources they need to see them through the long, cold winter months. Here’s what you need to keep your garden birds happy and healthy this winter.Tweet ...

Every day I sit at my computer watching the birds bathing in the saucers of water, feeding on aphids and other insects and I have had wrens and blackbirds nesting in the Ivy and Clematis growing up the fencing.

There are a few birds I miss such as the woodpecker and goldfinch as well as the sparrowhawk but I don't miss the mice and squirrels!

I will probably put out some high fat food during the winter but will no longer feed the birds during spring and summer, I'll just enjoy them using my garden as a bathroom.

• Why should you feed the birds during the winter? - Until your plants establish the birds are relying on you to provide them with the resources they need to see them through the long, cold winter months. Here’s what you need to keep your garden birds happy and healthy this winter.Tweet ...
• Bird Tables and Bird Accessories from RawGarden - RawGarden bring you the best of bird tables and accessories. The perfect festive gift! They’ve got FSC certified bird tables and nesting boxes as well as Bird Feeding Stations that are excellent products to attract, feed and water all types of birds. All of these bird products are from the trusted and well known company ...
• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...

Spring is finally upon us! But just because its warmer don't forget April can be a month a food scarcities as winter berries have disappeared but its still too early for summer fruits and insects.

Nest building is underway and you may have already spotted birds flying back and forth with twigs and other materials with which they use to construct their nests. They need a lot of energy during this important period so ensure you supply plenty of energy-rich foods such as suet pellets to see them through.

• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...
• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Why should you feed the birds during the winter? - Until your plants establish the birds are relying on you to provide them with the resources they need to see them through the long, cold winter months. Here’s what you need to keep your garden birds happy and healthy this winter.Tweet ...

The results are in; see what the RSPB has to say!

"For the first time in the survey's 30-year history, the long-tailed tit has flown into the Big Garden Birdwatch top ten. This highly sociable species increased by an astonishing 88% from last years count. We believe this pleasant increase is because this insect-eating bird has adapted to feeding on seeds and peanuts at birdtables and from hanging feeders. This result highlights perfectly the positive impact that our feeding and bird care can have on some birds."

The 2009 garden top ten looks like this:

1 house sparrow

2 starling

3 blackbird

4 blue tit

5 chaffinch

6 woodpigeon

7 collared dove

8 great tit

9 robin

10 long-tailed tit

• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Bird Tables and Bird Accessories from RawGarden - RawGarden bring you the best of bird tables and accessories. The perfect festive gift! They’ve got FSC certified bird tables and nesting boxes as well as Bird Feeding Stations that are excellent products to attract, feed and water all types of birds. All of these bird products are from the trusted and well known company ...
• Feeding Garden Birds - A beautiful, well maintained garden is a wonderful thing but what makes it special is the birds. You can attract birds to your garden throughout the year with very little effort.Tweet ...

Take at look at the RSPB's Top Tips for attracting birds to your garden:

• Introduce a bird table
• Put out high protein seed mixes & kitchen scraps such as animal fat and soaked, dried fruit
• Put out hanging feeders for black sunflower seeds, sunflower hearts, sunflower-rich mixes or unsalted peanuts
• Ensure a supply of fresh water every day
• If it is very cold use tepid water but don't use any antifreeze products
• Supply apples and pears for blackbirds, song thrushes and other members of the thrush family
• Fat blocks rubbed into the bark of trees is a great help for treecreepers, goldcrests and others
• Put up nest boxes to provide roost sites for the smaller birds; they will then be used for breeding later in the year.
• Plant berry-bearing plants such as hawthorn, rowan, holly, cotoneaster and berberis in your garden
• Leave wild, weedy or shrubby areas in the garden; these provide a natural seed source, cover and a supply of small insects
• Feed live foods such as mealworms and waxworms to attract a wide range of species.

There is a wide variety of bird seed mixtures available from pet shops and the big DIY stores. The better mixtures contain plenty of flaked maize, sunflower seeds, and peanut granules. Mixes with nuts are suitable for winter feeding only. Small seeds, such as millet, attract sparrows, finches, and collared doves. Blackbirds love flaked maize. Tits and greenfinches seem to prefer peanuts and sunflower seeds.

Wheat and barley grains are only suitable for ground feeding pigeons and doves. Avoid seed mixtures that have split peas, beans, dried rice or lentils as again only larger birds can eat them dry. Mixtures containing green or pink lumps should also be avoided as these are dog biscuit, which can only be eaten when soaked. Black sunflower seeds are an excellent year-round food and sunflower hearts are very popular as well as being less messy. Nyjer seeds are small and black with a high oil content and are particular favourites with goldfinches and siskins.

Peanuts are rich in fat and are liked by tits, greenfinches, house sparrows, nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers and siskins. Crushed or grated nuts attract robins, dunnocks and even wrens. They can be high in a natural toxin (aflatoxin) which can kill birds, so buy from a reputable supplier.

Fat balls are an excellent winter food. If they are sold in nylon mesh bags, always remove the bag before putting the fat ball out as the soft mesh can trap and injure birds. To make your own bird cake, using a one-third fat to two-thirds mixture, pour melted fat (suet or lard) onto a mixture of ingredients such as seeds, nuts, dried fruit, oatmeal. Stir well and pile into a container such as an empty coconut shell or plastic cup. Allow to set. Live foods such as mealworms are loved by robins and blue tits, and may attract other insect-eating birds such as pied wagtails. Mealworms are a natural food and can be used to feed birds throughout the year. Birds need high levels of saturated fat, such as raw suet and lard to keep warm in the worst of the winter weather.

Blackbirds readily take dog food, and even feed it to their chicks but dry biscuits are not recommended as birds may choke on the hard lumps, soak it first and ensure it stays moist during hot days. Never give milk to any bird, regardless of species or age as it can result in serious stomach upsets or even death. Birds can, however, digest fermented dairy products such as cheese, and mild grated cheese can be a good way of attracting robins, wrens and dunnocks. Any breakfast cereal is acceptable, although you need to be careful only to put out small quantities at a time. It is best offered dry, with a supply of drinking water nearby, since it quickly turns into pulp once wetted.

Always remove any stale or mouldy food promptly as stale food provides a breeding ground for salmonella bacteria, which can cause food poisoning.

It is also most important that you provide a source of clean water. Birds need water for drinking as well as bathing but remember that it may freeze during the winter so check your supply regularly during cold spells. During the summer the water will quickly evaporate so, again, check it regularly.

Now you know what to feed the birds but where do you feed them? Consider the following as you decide where to site your bird table.

If possible your bird table should be placed where the birds will not be disturbed by humans but don't place it so far from the house that you can't see it. It should be in an open, safe place where the birds can see that they are safe from predators and placed where it gets neither too much sun nor too much cold wind.

A small bush about two metres from the table gives the birds somewhere safe to perch while they look to see if it is safe to feed. Birds prefer different feeding places so provide a raised table placed on top of a post, hung from a branch or a bracket but also provide some ground feeding stations.

The most important thing to remember is to keep your bird table or feeding stations clean as dirty tables can harbour dangerous bacteria left by sick birds and start an outbreak of disease. Brush off debris every time you put out fresh food and scrub the table with a mild disinfectant solution every few weeks. Each autumn clean the table, tighten/replace screws and make sure it is still a safe place for birds to feed.

• Do you need to feed the birds? - I have always been a big believer in feeding the garden birds throughout the year. However, I stopped feeding a few months ago as the feeders were attracting vermin. Since then I have only provided saucers of water; they together with the Ivy and other bird loving plants still attract a good number of birds.Tweet ...
• Bird Tables and Bird Accessories from RawGarden - RawGarden bring you the best of bird tables and accessories. The perfect festive gift! They’ve got FSC certified bird tables and nesting boxes as well as Bird Feeding Stations that are excellent products to attract, feed and water all types of birds. All of these bird products are from the trusted and well known company ...
• Why should you feed the birds during the winter? - Until your plants establish the birds are relying on you to provide them with the resources they need to see them through the long, cold winter months. Here’s what you need to keep your garden birds happy and healthy this winter.Tweet ...