Birds are prone to disease and having large numbers of birds feeding in one area may cause some birds to become sick. Anything that has been used for feeding birds should be cleaned to help stop the spread of any diseases. A bird safe disinfectant is ideal and can be used on bird tables, feeders and even nest boxes. Buy feeders which are easy to clean, these are normally feeders that have easy access and or dismantle easily. Clean under the feeding area by digging over the ground or by washing and sweeping any paved area. The cleaner the feeding area the healthier your birds will be.

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Bug Guard Bird Safe Cleaner for Feeders and Bird Tables

There are many garden insects which help us with pollination of our garden flowers and vegetables and provide food for birds and small mammals. The best way to encourage more insects sow & plant wild flowers, have a compost heap and provide atificial habitats. Our insect homes and habitats are designed to provide a safe secure home for many insects including ladybirds, lacewings, moths, butterflies and bees.

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Queen bumble bees spend the winter hibernating and emerge to find a nesting site. Mouse holes with nesting material are ideal and are often used by bumble bees, but in recent summers heavy rains have destroyed many nests by flooding and drowning the bees. A bumble bee box is similar to a mouse nest and has grass ready for the bee to begin nest making. The box is best placed in a flower border along the edge of the garden in a warm south facing spot.

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Bumble Bee Single Chamber Nesting Box

The last two summers have been difficult for butterflies with cold spells of weather and heavy rain. Sow and plant wild flowers for adults to feed on and leave a small patch of nettles to grow in part of your garden for the caterpillars to feed on. A butterfly feeder is a good alternative for feeding a sugar/water solution during poor weather and early in the spring before many plants are in flower. Moths and solitary bees will also benefit from this. Place the butterfly feeder in a warm, sheltered site in the garden two feet or so off the ground.

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Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma and Red Admiral all hibernate as adults from October until the first of the warmer weather in March. You will find them in sheds, garages and sometimes in your house looking for a cool, secure site. They are often eaten during hibernation by shrews and spiders as they can not escape. A butterfly home is a timber constructed habitat which encourages butterflies to rest during summer nights and hibernate during the winter and can hold up to twenty-five butterflies.

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Toads and frogs are attracted to damp gardens and ponds. Leave shelved edges along pond edges with pond lilys and plants such as marsh marigold. Piles of logs or bricks are good for amphibians to spend hot days and attract insects for them to feed on.

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Frog & Toad Box

A ground feeder cage is the answer, these allow birds to enter and feed. The cage can be pinned to the ground to stop larger birds, squirrels and dogs from moving it. The cage has easy access for placing the food via a hinged lid. Two sizes are available with small mesh allowing birds such as greenfinches and sparrows but nothing bigger and the large mesh which allows birds up to the size of blackbirds but not collared doves.

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Ground Feeder Cage with the Large Mesh

There are three main reasons for birds to visit your garden, food, water and shelter. The quality of bird foods available from Bird Ventures ensures that birds have the correct diet ensuring they survive poor winter weather, are fit to feed their young and fight off disease. Garden birds are best attracted to a variety of foods. The ideal would be mixed seed, sunflower hearts, suet, fat balls and live or dried insects. It is worth changing the variety now and again and trying something new such as songbird foods for thrushes, robins and dunnocks or try thistle/niger seed to encourage goldfinches. Place feeders, bird tables and feeder poles away from predators such as cats and where you can enjoy watching the birds. Water is vital for birds and should be fresh and clean. Ground bird baths will attract the ground birds. Standing or hanging bird baths attract many species including the tits and finches. Water is important for birds to drink and to wash keeping their feathers in good order. Shelter can be provided for birds by planting trees and shrubs and by placing roosting pouches and nest boxes in and around the garden. Nest boxes are used for winter roosting as well as summer nesting.

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The Barn Owl is the silent hunter of voles and mice and has a long association with humans often feeding and nesting in villages. Barn Owls need thick grassland meadows to hunt for voles throughout the year. In the summer a nesting pair of Barn Owls may catch sixty voles a day to feed their young. Feeding mice and voles along grassland edges helps the voles to produce many young therefore more food for the owls. Barn Owl nesting boxes are very successful and we sell a triangular shaped box which has proved popular across the Britain. The box should be placed 3 - 5 metres high on the side of a building or in a tree.Site the box facing north or east with clear access to the entrance ho;e. Barn Owls are suffering from a lack of nesting sites as trees are felled and old barns are converted in to homes.Nesting boxes may be their only hope. Customers have had Barn Owls in the nesting boxes within six weeks of erecting them.

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