{"id":1674,"date":"2026-08-20T15:24:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2026-08-20T15:25:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:25:56","slug":"updated-bird-feeder-guidance-feed-seasonally-feed-safely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/2026\/08\/20\/updated-bird-feeder-guidance-feed-seasonally-feed-safely\/","title":{"rendered":"Updated Bird Feeder Guidance\u00a0\u2013 Feed Seasonally, Feed Safely\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recent research has shown&nbsp;a&nbsp;significant&nbsp;decline in&nbsp;some&nbsp;garden birds&nbsp;(such as Greenfinches&nbsp;and&nbsp;Chaffinchs)&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;Trichomonosis, a highly contagious disease that spreads when birds gather in large numbers&nbsp;and share contaminated food.&nbsp;The RSPB have released&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rspb.org.uk\/whats-happening\/news\/how-to-help-garden-birds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new guidance<\/a>&nbsp;to help make a difference.&nbsp;In this blog&nbsp;we have provided&nbsp;a summary of&nbsp;the&nbsp;two key recommendations&nbsp;to&nbsp;<strong>feed seasonally and feed safely,&nbsp;<\/strong>so we can all help&nbsp;protect our garden birds&nbsp;\ud83d\udc26.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"792\" height=\"528\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2026\/08\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1675\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2026\/08\/image.png 792w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2026\/08\/image-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2026\/08\/image-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/files\/2026\/08\/image-624x416.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Feed seasonally<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>May &#8211; October&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In summer and autumn (1 May&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;31 October)&nbsp;put a hold on&nbsp;filling bird feeders with seeds or peanuts.&nbsp;Instead, you can feed&nbsp;them&nbsp;<strong>small<\/strong>&nbsp;amounts&nbsp;of mealworms,&nbsp;fatballs&nbsp;or suet.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Natural foods are more available in summer,&nbsp;so feeding&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;necessary!&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>November&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;April<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You can feed your birds a full range of bird foods, including seeds and peanuts&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Feed safely&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clean bird feeders and water baths at least once a week&nbsp;with hot soapy water and&nbsp;non-toxic disinfectant such as&nbsp;Ark-Klens&nbsp;or a mild (5%) bleach solution.\u202f&nbsp;Also&nbsp;clean&nbsp;away&nbsp;old food or droppings beneath the feeders&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Refresh water every day&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Place your bird feeder in a new spot every week&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Avoid putting feeders under places where birds roost such as under trees&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Choose hanging feeders over flat feeders.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adjust\u202fthe amount you offer based\u202fon demand\u202fand\u202ftry to prevent it from getting wet&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Help birds find their own food by filling your&nbsp;outdoor space with bird-friendly plants e.g. sunflowers,&nbsp;teasel&nbsp;and ivy&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are we doing?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April&nbsp;2025 and&nbsp;2026, we conducted&nbsp;urban bird surveys, which confirmed the presence of European Greenfinches on&nbsp;our City&nbsp;campus.\u202f&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In line with updated&nbsp;RSPB&nbsp;guidance on bird feeding and to help reduce the risk of spreading bird disease, we&nbsp;will be removing the&nbsp;bird feeders on campus that we are&nbsp;aware of.&nbsp;We are currently in the summer season&nbsp;where food is prevalent, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;summer&nbsp;it&nbsp;would also&nbsp;be challenging to keep all bird feeders&nbsp;regularly&nbsp;clean on&nbsp;our large campus.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you think one of these bird feeders was yours or&nbsp;you see&nbsp;a bird feeder that needs removing, please email us at&nbsp;sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, our campus planting provides natural food sources for&nbsp;many types of&nbsp;wildlife, with areas designed to support pollinators and&nbsp;wider&nbsp;biodiversity. We also provide dedicated habitats&nbsp;for birds&nbsp;and bats, including&nbsp;2 large&nbsp;bat barns&nbsp;at&nbsp;Park View Student&nbsp;Village&nbsp;Accommodation&nbsp;which&nbsp;are used by both birds and bats.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about&nbsp;how&nbsp;we are supporting biodiversity on campus, visit&nbsp;our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainable-campus\/themes\/biodiversity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">biodiversity page.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent research has shown&nbsp;a&nbsp;significant&nbsp;decline in&nbsp;some&nbsp;garden birds&nbsp;(such as Greenfinches&nbsp;and&nbsp;Chaffinchs)&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;Trichomonosis, a highly contagious disease that spreads when birds gather in large numbers&nbsp;and share contaminated food.&nbsp;The RSPB have released&nbsp;new guidance&nbsp;to help make a difference.&nbsp;In this blog&nbsp;we have provided&nbsp;a summary of&nbsp;the&nbsp;two key recommendations&nbsp;to&nbsp;feed seasonally and feed safely,&nbsp;so we can all help&nbsp;protect our garden birds&nbsp;\ud83d\udc26.&nbsp; May &#8211; October&nbsp;&nbsp; November&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;April&nbsp; What [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12007,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[80,36,29],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-biodiversity-on-campus","tag-get-involved","tag-sustainable-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1680,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/1680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}