Don’t let your lack of a garden stop you from feeding the birds! A balcony can be just as much of a sweet haven for our feathered friends if set up correctly.

This blog will explain the dos and don’ts of how to create a balcony feeding station so that you can attract and care for your local wild birds no matter how little space you have.

Do...

• Use indigenous plants and flowers. Decorating your balcony with local plants and vegetation will help to put the birds at ease and welcome them into your space – plus, native plants will thrive in your local climate making them easier to maintain!
  
  
• Catch birds’ attention using attractive sounds. The light splashing from a table top fountain or gentle bird sound recordings can help to show local birds that your balcony is safe. You can even buy solar powered bird baths and fountains to further attract garden birds to come to your balcony for a drink or midday dip.
  
  
• Add colour. Most garden birds are attracted to specific colours because of what the colour represents. For example, birds like goldfinches and sparrows are attracted to the colour yellow because they associate it with sunflowers and one of their favourite foods - sunflower seeds! Adding colourful ribbons and ornaments can also help. 

• Use seed catchers. Seed catchers like this seed buster tray catch spilled seed, saving you cleaning time and saving your neighbours from falling debris!

• Put anti-collision stickers on your windows. Placing bird feeders close to glass windows can be risky. Many birds get confused by window reflections, which can cause collisions. Anti-collision shapes and stickers simulate the presence of other birds so that our feathered friends won’t fly too close.
  
  
• Use window feeders. Here at Really Wild Bird Food, we stock a range of window feeders including window trays, hooks and pods, all of which give you a close-up view of the wild birds in your garden while taking up minimal space on your balcony.
  
  
• Use hanging baskets. Hanging baskets can be a great way to add greenery if you’re low on space. Window boxes are also a great idea as they can be filled with a selection of colourful and easy to manage plants.
  
  
• Use climbing plants. Birds love to have a safe place to hide while they wait for their feed, honeysuckle is a great option to use as they are a favourite of thrushes, warblers and blackbirds. 

• Attract bugs. In the late spring and summer months, common garden birds like blue tits are on the look out for smaller grub-like insects that they can feed their young. Choosing plant varieties that pollinating insects will be attracted to will, in turn, attract birds who are looking for bugs to eat!

Don’t...

• Excessively use bird sounds. Birds may find loud bird sounds threatening or challenging (and your neighbours may not appreciate them either).
  
  
• Forget to keep the space tidy. Not only can excess seed and debris fall onto your neighbours below, it can also attract pests and turn your balcony into a breeding ground for disease. Regularly cleaning your feeders, water dishes and balcony in general is extremely important for the overall wellbeing of your feathered friends.
  
  
• Pick an overly heavy feeder. Choosing a feeder that can feed multiple birds at once is great; however, make sure your feeder is not so heavy that is poses a risk of damaging your balcony setup!
  
  
• Use windchimes. Unnatural sounds like windchimes can scare birds away from your balcony.
  
  
• Decorate the balcony with bright moving objects. Objects like windsocks or spinners can also be scary for birds and cause them to steer clear of your balcony feeding zone.
  
  
• Store big items like bikes or BBQ grills on your balcony. These large objects can be very intimidating for birds, so try to keep your balcony as uncluttered as possible.

Follow these tips and you should have a bustling bird balcony in no time. Good luck!

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READ MORE: Bird Feeding Tips for Beginners

Sunflower hearts are a nutritious and high-energy snack, much loved by a wide variety of wild birds. At Really Wild Bird Food, our Premium Sunflower Hearts are particularly high in calories as they have high oil content. This makes them a great bird feeding option for the winter months.

All of our sunflower hearts come ready to eat—simply put them in your feeder and watch the birds flock to enjoy them! But the question is: what bird feeder is best for feeding sunflower hearts?

This blog will run through some of our favourite sunflower heart feeders and their unique selling points so that you can pick a bird feeder that is perfect for your garden!

Short answer: bird seed typically stays fresh for 6 – 12 months when stored in a clean, airtight container. The exact shelf life will depend on what type of seed it is.

Let’s look at how long bird seed lasts in different conditions, what you can do to keep it fresh, and when it’s best to start over with a fresh batch.

How to store bird seed

The best way to maximise the shelf life of your bird seed is to decant the seeds into a suitable airtight container as soon as possible after opening them.

Bird food storage tins protect seeds in several ways:

• Protection from the elements. Depending on where they’re stored, bags of bird feed may be vulnerable to rain and external contaminants, all of which can damage the feed and make it unsuitable for consumption.
  
  
• A cool, dry environment. This is important because it keeps the seed from getting damp and mouldy, which can make the whole batch unsafe for birds to eat.
  
  
• Defence against rodents and insects. If pests like rodents and insects gain access to your bird seed supply, not only will they eat the seeds, they may contaminate whatever is left behind. A sturdy storage container will help to keep them out!

Besides storing your bird food in a dedicated bird food tin, there are a few things you can do to keep your bird feed in tip-top condition while it awaits the feeder:

• Keep the container out of reach of potential pests.
  
  
• Stir the feed occasionally to prevent the seeds from becoming stagnant.
  
  
• Use up the oldest seed first before adding fresh feed to the storage tin.

How long does bird seed last in the feeder?

How long seed will stay fresh in the feeder while waiting for some lucky bird to devour it depends on a number of factors. Rain and pests will speed up deterioration, and feed that’s damp should be replaced immediately to avoid mould growth.

However, assuming the weather’s fine and the food is inaccessible to rodents and insects, bird seed should last up to about a week in a feeder or on the bird table. After this point, any uneaten feed should be replaced with fresh seed mix.

How can you tell when bird seed has gone bad?

• Obvious signs of spoilage (such as mould, damp, a musty smell or an unpleasant odour) mean it’s time to start again with fresh seed.
  
  
• Discolouration may be a less obvious indication of spoilage, but this is another clue that the seed is past its best and should be replaced.
  
  
• If the seeds are showing signs of germination (green growth or shoots are a sure sign they’ve started sprouting!) then they should be removed from the tin or feeder.
  
  
• Any signs of insect activity (for example, any bugs, larvae or webbing amongst the seeds) indicate the feed is potentially dangerous for birds and should be replaced.
  
  
• If the birds themselves show little interest in the feed, this may be a sign they don’t consider it up to snuff and it’s time to give them some fresh food.
  
  
• Finally, it’s not just when food has obviously spoiled that it needs to be replaced. The older the seed, the less nutritional value it has. Seeds lose nutrients over time, so it becomes more like a filler food rather than the nutrient-dense feed you had in mind when you bought it. This shouldn’t be an issue as long as you’re using your bird feed within the recommended 6 – 12 month window.

Here at Really Wild Bird Food we have a variety of bird food storage solutions to suit your needs so you never have to worry about your seeds spoiling before your feathery friends can get their share!

We also offer free delivery on any order that includes at least one of our seed mixes, so don’t forget to pair your food storage tin with something tasty to put in it.

Bird Feed Storage   Bird Seed Mixes

Voted Britain's favourite bird in 2015, taking over 34% of the vote and beating the barn owl (12%) into a distant second place, robins are a familiar sight across Great Britain and Ireland.

The round, red-breasted little birds are most often associated with Christmas, but they're actually present all year round across the islands. Robins can be found in woodland and farmland, and in both urban and suburban settings. Their musical song can be heard day and night (thanks to street lighting)—if you live in the UK, the distinctive sound will almost certainly be familiar to you, even if you never realised it belonged to the robin!

Here at Really Wild Bird Food we understand that if you love birds, you’re probably a fan of animals in general - and you might even have a furry friend of your own at home. If you’re letting your dog run around in the same area where you hang your bird feeders, it’s important to remember that not all bird-safe products are suitable for dogs.

In this blog, we will be delving into the topic of dogs and bird food, focusing on one question in particular: can dogs safely eat fat balls?

Slugs have always copped a bad reputation in the eyes of gardeners. A new campaign titled Making Friends with Molluscs hopes to change this. The initiative, kickstarted by the Royal Horticultural Society and The Wildlife Trusts, encourages homeowners to consider the positive role of slugs and other molluscs in their garden’s ecosystem.

Millet is one of the oldest farming crops known, and has been cultivated as a food source for well over 7,000 years! Due to its resistance to drought, millet has been a staple for both humans and animals since the dawn of civilisation.

In addition to being an excellent source of potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, protein, carbohydrates and vitamins a and b, it also helps that it’s super yummy!

The finch (Fringillidae) family comprises more than 200 different species across a variety of different habitats. In fact, finches can be found in almost every part of the world - the only exceptions are Australia and the polar regions.

FUN FINCH FACT: Did you know that a flock of goldfinches is called a charm? How charming!