It's fair to say that the enjoyment and fun we all get watching our birds on our feeders and around the garden is priceless; but that doesn't mean we wouldn't sometimes like it to be a little less expensive! It can be tempting to cut back or look to make savings, so we've produced some top tips on saving money and still making sure your birds are well looked after and better yet - you continue to get the benefits of seeing the birds in your garden!
Buy in Bulk - many people pick up their bird food from garden centres or high street discount stores. Ordering online and in bulk bags of 12.55kg (or more) will seriously reduce the cost per kilo of your bird food. It's amazing how quickly you can get through a big bag and it means you're not likely to run out either!
Buy Best Sellers – When you want as much bang for your buck as possible, there's no room for messing about with trial and error on mixes that might not work in your garden. Opt for the tried and tested that you (and we) know work. Buy sunflower hearts or peanuts and you're almost guaranteed garden birds.
Planned Feeding – only feed a certain amount each day - garden birds will quickly adjust to how much food is available and learn to exploit other nearby sources too. Avoid any waste by putting out just the right amount to last the day.
Just for Birds – if you have other unwanted wildlife such as squirrels lunching on your bird food think about feeding in squirrel-proof feeders. Specially designed to allow only birds to access the food they can save by reducing the amount of food wasted or spilled by pesky squirrels.
Reward Points – open a Garden Wildlife Direct account and get reward points on every purchase. £'s make points and points get you £'s off future purchases! It's amazing how quickly the points can add up if your garden is busy and it's always nice to add those points onto your order and see the price come down a little further!
Compare Prices – check out our price comparisons on all the major bird foods. We want to make sure our customers get the very best prices so are constantly checking the market to make sure we're offering the cheapest way to feed your birds.
Keep them Clean – cleaning your feeders and bird table regularly will help them last longer and reduce the chances of them becoming clogged up or damaged.
Free Delivery – try and order over £25 and ensure you get free delivery on your bird food. If you don't need that much buddy-up with a neighbour and share an order.
Start Small – if you're new to garden bird feeding, start small, one feeder and build from there gradually as you learn which birds are visiting and which foods are most popular.
Just Add Water – adding water into your garden will attract birds in the same way as food. Birds need to drink and bathe and will appreciate bird baths and other water sources as much as food.
I have a problem with pigeons in my very small garden and stopped feeding this summer when the flock reached 20 strong! They come to pick up the dropped seed from the feeders. My neighbour has complained and asked me to stop feeding the birds entirely which I don’t want to do. I read that using a mix that excludes all grains and peanuts might solve the problem. Which of your mixes would you recommend? Do you have any other advice to solve this?
Hi Jennifer,
We’d recommend using a Wheat Free mix, as this is what tends to encourage the pigeons in: https://www.gardenwildlifedirect.co.uk/bird-seed-mixes/no-wheat-wild-bird-seed-mix.html