Give water, and stop giving bird food, to help birds this summer

• Charity highlights unintended consequences of feeding birds in summer ‍
• As some parts of the UK experience drought, providing shallow dishes of water can be a lifeline for birds ‍
• RHS Chelsea Garden designer Nicola Oakey gives tips on how you can make your garden more songbird-friendly now

With recent high temperatures across the country leading to heatwave warnings and parts of the country experiencing drought, charity SongBird Survival has called on gardeners to remember to provide fresh water daily to help at risk songbirds. The charity says that providing water in the summer months, rather than bird food such as seeds, fat balls or peanuts, is the best way to help songbirds.  

More than half of our UK songbirds are threatened or already in decline. Songbirds, including those that are on the UK Conservation status red list like greenfinches and house martins, lose more water than other birds so need to drink more often.  

Over recent years, feeding birds has become very common. Six in ten people who have an outdoor space feed birds. However, the latest scientific research has found providing food via bird feeders in the summer can have unintended consequences for songbirds. Avian diseases, such as Salmonella and Trichomonosis have increased as garden feeding has become more prevalent.

Susan Morgan, CEO of SongBird Survival says:  

“Although we recognise many people still enjoy feeding birds during the summer, we’ve made the difficult decision to ask bird lovers to stop. In the summer months, there are plenty of insects, berries, and seeds available, so there's no need for us to put out extra food. Research has also shown that feeding birds in summer may upset the delicate natural balance of different types of birds in your local area and may also increase the risk of disease spreading.”

Dr Alexander Lees, Reader in Biodiversity at Manchester Metropolitan University adds:

"Feeding garden birds is a national pastime for the British and the most common opportunity for many of us to connect with nature.  However, there is an increasing body of scientific evidence which links garden feeding to detrimental impacts including enhanced disease transmission and competition between species, which is contributing to steep declines in several once common species, like willow tits and greenfinches. There is an urgent need to re-evaluate guidelines on what, when, where and how much food we provide to avoid these unintended negative impacts."    

SongBird Survival recommends:

• Put out a shallow dish of clean water for drinking and bathing (a plant saucer or bowl is ideal)
• Don’t make your bird bath too deep - add pebbles or sticks to help smaller birds perch safely
• Clean the dish weekly to prevent disease
• If you have fed birds routinely in the past, start by reducing the summer feeding slowly
• Plant flowers and shrubs that attract insects and offer seeds and fruit to birds, to give them natural food sources

Garden designer Nicola Oakey, whose songbird-friendly garden for SongBird Survival won a Silver Gilt Medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, encourages people to take simple steps:  

"In my own garden, I tuck shallow saucers of water in places that have shelter from plants. This means the birds can bathe and drink with protection from predators. At this time of year, it's tempting to cut back or deadhead plants that have finished flowering for the year. Many plants have really valuable seeds or fruits, such as perennial cornflower (Centaurea) and plume thistle (Cirsium), so, I would encourage people not to pick up their secateurs too quickly. Leaving that structure in our borders, especially over autumn and winter, provides vital cover and places for birds to forage for food."

Bird lovers can find more free advice to help songbirds in their gardens at: https://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/campaign/gardens-for-birds  

Ends

For further information, please contact Tracey Spensley, Communications Manager on pr@songbird-survival.org.uk

Notes to Editors

1. Songbird Survival is the only charity in the UK dedicated solely to halting and reversing the alarming population decline of songbirds and other small birds. It does this by supporting research carried out by experts at top universities and conservation organisations in the UK into the cause of the decline, and the solutions. More information is available at: https://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/  

2. Photos to accompany the release can be found here

3. Research has found feeding birds can upset the natural balance of different birds in your area as those who use garden feeders trump other birds who don’t, like rarer willow tits (Broughton, R., Shutt, J.D. and Lees, A.C., 2021, ‘Rethinking bird feeding: are we putting extra pressure on some struggling woodland birds?; Shutt, J. D. and Lees, A. C., 2021, ‘Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts?’).  

4. Feeding birds during very hot periods can also increase the risk of disease spreading.  [Lawson, B., Robinson, R. A., Toms, M. P., Risely, K., Macdonald, S., & Cunningham, A. A. (2018). Health hazards to wild birds and risk factors associated with anthropogenic food provisioning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1745). https://doi.org/10.1098/RSTB.2017.0091    

5. SongBird Survival and the University of Sussex’s study into pesticides is available at: https://www.songbird-survival.org.uk/categories/birds-and-pesticides  

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