Its national bird feeding month so we have come up with some plants that are guaranteed to encourage birds into your garden!
1) Holly (Ilex) is definitely a bird’s favourite. Its dense prickly leaves offer windproof shelter along with berries for a Christmas feast. Blackbirds and thrushes are usually the first to strip a holly bush of its berries. Available as root balls in the winter and container plants in a multitude of sizes throughout the year.
2) Mature Ivy (Hedera) offers masses of autumn berries. Song thrushes and Wood pigeons are usually the first to enjoy these.
3) Pyracantha (Firethorn) are an attractive heavily berried prickly plant providing not only protection from predators but is a tasty food source too, a favourite with finches, sparrows, starlings and song thrushes.
4) Hawthorn (Quickthorn) berries are a favourite for Chaffinches, Starlings, Blackbirds and Greenfinches. The leaves are the food plant for Caterpillars of many species of moth, providing food for baby birds in spring. We have a great selection of bare root hedging available from 40-60cm tall up to 175-200cm tall.
5) Cotoneaster branches are always full of small red berries from autumn onwards and provide great shelter for a nesting site. They are popular with thrushes, Blackbirds and Waxwings.
6) It’s great to leave seed heads on over winter as they provide an additional food source for birds – particularly Greenfinches and Goldfinches.
Posted 1st Feb 11:34am