Hanging Metal Fat Ball Feeders (Set of Four)
Solar Fountain for Your Bird Bath
Feeding garden birds in Reading
Reading gardens run from Victorian terraces with a strip of yard to inter-war semis with mature hedges, and the two attract quite different crowds. Small enclosed gardens do well with window and pole feeders that use vertical space; a larger plot in the RG postcodes can carry a proper feeding station with a table, a hanging cluster and water at ground level.
Food choice is simpler than the shelves suggest. Sunflower hearts are the single most useful thing you can put out because almost everything eats them and there are no husks left on the ground. Add peanuts in a mesh feeder for tits and finches, fat balls once the weather turns, and mealworms if you want robins, and you have covered nearly every garden bird.
Reading sits squarely under the Chilterns red kite population, so a kite over the garden is an everyday sight here rather than an event.
Reading at a glance
What is actually near you
Real places, with the distance measured from the city centre. We are an online shop, not a branch in Reading.
NationEngland
RegionBerkshire
PostcodesRG postcode area
Nearest reserveDinton Pastures
Also coversWokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames, Maidenhead, Newbury, Basingstoke
What should I feed garden birds in Reading?
The mix matters less in Reading than where it hangs. Sunflower hearts cover most species, peanuts bring the tit family and suet carries them through cold weather. Site it near cover, put a tray underneath to catch husks, keep water available, and clean the ports every fortnight.
- Add a low tray or table for robins, blackbirds and dunnocks
- Put feeders under a metre from glass, or over three metres from it
- Use a caged feeder where squirrels, pigeons or magpies take everything
- Site the bath in the open with cover a couple of metres off
- Wash feeders in hot soapy water every fortnight and dry before refilling
Red kite: the local one to watch
Reading sits squarely under the Chilterns red kite population, so a kite over the garden is an everyday sight here rather than an event.
Why water beats an extra feeder
Water gets forgotten far more often than food. Birds need it for drinking and for keeping feathers in condition, and in a hard frost a bath that is topped up is worth more to them than a full feeder. Shallow is the point: two to three centimetres at the edge, with a rough surface to grip, and a stone in the middle for the smaller ones.
Hygiene, and why it is not optional
Spillage is worth designing out rather than sweeping up. A seed tray under a tube catches the husks and gives ground feeders somewhere to work at the same time, and it is the single easiest way to stop wet seed collecting on soil where it will sour and attract rats. Easy-clean feeders that split apart make the fortnightly job a five-minute one.
The feeding year in Reading
Milder winters here mean the difference between a good garden and a poor one shows up in other months. Southern birds get through cold snaps more easily, but summer drought and the spring hungry gap are genuinely hard, so year-round feeding and a reliable water supply matter more than they do further north.
Our pick
What we would put up first in a Reading garden
- Feeder Poles — a pole puts a feeding station where there is no tree to use
- Peanut Feeders — a mesh peanut feeder brings in tits, finches and woodpeckers
- Small-Bird Feeders — keeps the food for tits and finches rather than the bruisers
Where to start
Feeder Poles
Common questions
Feeding birds in Reading
Early autumn is the natural point, when wild seed and insects begin to run out and birds are settling into winter routines. Anything you put up before the clocks change gets built into that routine. Starting in the middle of a cold snap still helps, but it takes longer for birds to find and trust it.
Usually one of three things: a sparrowhawk or cat has started working the garden, natural food has become abundant somewhere nearby, or the seed has gone stale. Late summer is the quietest stretch in most gardens because there is so much wild food about, and the birds return as it runs out.
They can be, and it is almost always spillage rather than the feeder. A seed tray underneath catches husks and dropped seed, ground feeding is best done in daylight in small amounts, and anything left on the soil at dusk should be cleared. Feeders that seal properly and do not leak from the base help a great deal.
Also covering
Reading and the surrounding towns — Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames, Maidenhead, Newbury, Basingstoke. Delivery and returns are the same wherever you are in England.
Nearby cities
All cities we cover · Which bird visits you? · The feeding calendar