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seed feeders.To breed successfully, garden birds need a steady supply of natural food. The parents don't tend to take peanuts, fat balls and sunflower seeds from garden bird feeders back to the nests for their young. Instead, they forage

The danger of frozen water pipes is on my mind during this freezing weather, but I'm also concerned that garden birds are suffering, too.Water in my bird bath quickly turns into a solid sheet of ice on cold nights, and hasn't been thawing out during

With so many people reporting sightings of unusual birds in their gardens - and observing some pretty odd behaviour - I'm struggling to entice anything other than pigeons to my plot. I don't know if I should even take part in this year's RSPB Big

, but gardeners can help by keeping an eye out for signs of disease in their gardens, and keep their bird feeders clean. At this time of year, there are more birds visiting our feeders, increasing the potential for infection to spread. But while it’s impossible

the wiser.I only get pigeons regularly visiting my garden. Last winter I made efforts to entice smaller, hungrier birds, and managed to attract a desperate pair of wagtails, a blackbird, a robin and a blue tit. They disappeared as soon as the ice thawed

birds each year in the UK. I admitted that my two sometimes bring in mice, rats and birds, but the fact that I've seen kestrel and sparrowhawk in my garden and peregrine falcon in central London was, I hope, proof that there are enough birds to go round

the discomfort).But if I'm still cold beneath so many layers, I shudder to think how the poor birds must be faring. Their tiny, almost flesh-free legs must be frozen. I do what I can for them, and my bird table is currently laden with large quantities of crushed

would come to his hand - and to ours if we stayed still enough.After that I became a bit blasé on the subject: birds were just things that flew about and, in certain incarnations, tasted good.Today we get quite excited by the birds that visit this garden

Follow Chris Beardshaw's advice on helping garden birds in spring. He explains the different feeding requirements of young and adult birds, how birds can help with pest control and offers tips on positioning nesting boxes.springMore on garden birds

for detecting fruit almost before it's fully ripe. Strawberries are a favourite, possibly because they're at ground level and easy to find, but even when grown in pots and 'hidden' in the greenhouse they soon discovered, and prove irresistible to birds unless