Life can be tough going in Cumbria in January, for both our local bird populations and visiting bird species from arctic north. With natural food sources eaten or in hibernation, the ground frozen and water sources iced over birds will be grateful with a helping hand. Here are a few tips.

If you want to be involved in your garden:

• Know your birds. Make sure you are providing a range of food on the ground, feeders and table, to ensure the correct food is available for the species that visit your garden.
• Feed birds regularly, ideally putting out food every morning.
• Don’t throw out food waste for the birds from your dinner plate. Check what is good for garden birds and what should go in the bin.
• Don’t poison your pets. Birds love dried fruit, but so do dogs. Unfortunately, grapes, currants, raisins or sultanas (vine fruits) are all toxic to dogs.
• Keep water in bird baths and ponds unfrozen. Birds need to drink and bathe everyday- even when it is freezing cold outside.
• Maximize the use of ‘natural larder’ already in the garden! There are probably lots of dead or dying stems of grasses, nettles or plants like willowherb and knapweed standing around in the garden now but rather than tidy all of these up, think about setting aside a small area as a natural larder for birds overwinter.