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The best bird feed in 2025

Alex David

Published: Wednesday, 19 February 2025 at 3:59 pm

Support British wildlife with our pick of food for the birds

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Feeding the birds helps support British wildlife. Providing natural food for birds means you’ll be rewarded with the joy of birds visiting your garden. Along with fruit, berries and seeds provided by your plants and the insects that thrive in gardens with healthy ecosystems, supplementary feeding can also be an important source of energy.

Many different types of bird food are available to provide for a wide variety of species. Mixed bird feed caters for insectivores, seed-eaters and omnivores alike. Alternatively, you can tailor your food to the birds you know visit your garden or those that you hope to attract. Insectivores like house martins won’t go for sunflower hearts; conversely, wood pigeons won’t eat from feeders filled with mealworms.

Looking to support British Wildlife? Have a look at our guide to bird feeders. Offer birds a home with our guide to bird nesting boxes and check up on your new wild companions with a bird box camera.

Following a study in conjunction with the BTO and the Institute of Zoology, the RSPB has confirmed that the bird disease trichonomosis spreads more easily in summer and autumn, and on flat surfaces, such as bird tables and at bird baths. It has now changed its bird feeding advice as follows:

Feed seasonally – it’s important to change what we feed our garden birds during the summer and autumn months when there’s a higher risk of disease spreading.

From 1 May to 31 October: stop filling bird feeders with seed and peanuts to prevent too many birds gathering in one place. You can keep offering small amounts of mealworms, fat balls, or suet year-round

Feed safely – just one infected bird can turn your busy feeder into a disease hotspot. To help keep birds healthy, we need to prioritise hygiene.

Clean and move feeders weekly: give your feeders a good clean at least once a week, making sure you follow careful hygiene practices, including discarding old food in an outdoor bin, wearing gloves and other protective clothing, dampening surfaces with water before disinfecting feeders to reduce the chance of breathing in dry dust, washing feeders outside with cleaning utensils reserved solely for bird feeders and kept outside, and thoroughly washing hands and forearms afterwards. If possible, place your feeders in a different spot after each clean to prevent the build-up of contaminated debris underneath. Any existing debris should be cleared up
Change water daily: only offer water if you’re able to change it every day and make sure it’s tap water. Water baths should also be cleaned weekly, with the same hygiene practices as above
Don't use flat-surfaced feeders such as bird tables: research has confirmed that there’s a higher risk of the disease spreading on flat surfaces, where contaminated food can collect for other birds to eat

Browse our pick of bird foods, and when you should use them, below:

Nutritious bird feeds for your garden

Peckish Natural Balance Seed Mix, 1.7kg

Price: £6.40 for 3.5kg

Available from Petshop

Peckish Natural Balance Seed Mix - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Peckish Natural Balance Seed Mix

This mixed bird food is perfect for supporting a wide variety of birds. It also has great green credentials - its packaging is entirely recyclable and contains no plastic. This product should only be used in feeders between the beginning of November and the end of April to help protect birds from disease.

Extra Select Premium Wild Bird Food

Price: £2.29 for 1kg

Buy Extra Select Premium Wild Bird Food on Amazon

Extra Select Premium Wild Bird Food, 5 Litre - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Extra Select Premium Wild Bird Food, 5 Litre

With eight different ingredients, this bird food is perfect for attracting a wide variety of birds. A great starting point for first-time use or gardeners on a budget. This product should only be used in feeders between the beginning of November and the end of April to help protect birds from disease.

RSPB Favourites blend bird food

Price: £9.50 for 1.8kg

Available from RSPB

RSPB Favourites Blend - BBC Gardeners' World

RSPB Favourites Blend

The RSPB have combined their best-selling bird foods into this mix of ingredients. With sunflower hearts, a pellet mix of suet and raisins, and dried mealworms, this bird food is the avian equivalent of a full English: high-protein, high-calorie sustenance. This product is only available seasonally as the RSPB has paused selling seeds and peanuts from 1 May to 12 October to help protect birds from disease.

National Trust CJ Wildlife Hi-Energy No Mess Seed Mix

Price: £4.50 per kg

Available from Ocado

National Trust CJ Wildlife Hi-Energy No Mess Seed Mix, 3L - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

National Trust CJ Wildlife Hi-Energy No Mess Seed Mix, 3L

This seed mix is good for birds and good for your lawns and patios. With no wheat filler or husks, this bird food won’t leave debris all over your garden, but still provides great nutrition. This product should only be used in feeders between the beginning of November and the end of April to help protect birds from disease.

Peckish Complete Seed and Nut

Price: from £4.80 per kilo

Available from Amazon

Peckish Complete Seed and Nut 5kg - BBC Gardeners' World

Peckish Complete Seed and Nut 5kg

This is an impressive mix of twelve different seeds and nuts. It's no-mess and is also vitamin fortified to help birds grow strong bones and produce robust eggshells. Great for attracting songbirds. This product should only be used in feeders between the beginning of November and the end of April to help protect birds from disease.

Seedzbox Ultimate Deluxe Wild Bird Seed Feed

Price: £12.98 for 1.8kg

Available from Seedzbox

This bird feed mix has a remarkable variety of ingredients. It’s designed to not only maximise the number of birds enjoying your garden, but to provide them with a diverse source of proteins and carbohydrates. This seed also donates to One Tree Planted, a non-profit which plants trees. This product should only be used in feeders between the beginning of November and the end of April to help protect birds from disease.

RSPB No grow ground mix

Price: £21 for 5.5kg

Available from RSPB

RSPB No grow ground mix 5.5kg - BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

RSPB No grow ground mix 5.5kg

This no-grow mix is good for fastidious gardeners. The mix has been selected and cut to lower the chance of this feed germinating in your garden. It's a hearty mix of suet, rolled oats and flaked maize - perfect for bigger songbirds like blackbirds. This product is only available seasonally as the RSPB has paused selling seeds and peanuts from 1 May to 12 October to help protect birds from disease.

What should I feed the birds?

Bird foods can be split into four rough categories - insects, high-protein sources, seeds and grains, and berries.

Insects

Insects such as dried mealworms are great for most British birds, which are largely omnivorous. Dried or roasted mealworms are most common but waxworms, earthworms, and crickets are also fantastic unprocessed food sources, though they can be a little more expensive.

Protein sources

High-energy, high-protein food like sunflower hearts, suet or nuts are vital in winter. Just as for humans, proteins are crucial for helping birds build crucial muscle mass and body fat. However, in too large a quantity they can be unhealthy, so make sure you provide a healthy balance with different types of foods. It’s also good to make sure they’re in small pieces, so birds - especially chicks - don’t choke.

Seeds and grains

These are a mainstay of many birds’ diet. Try to avoid feed with wheat, because this has little nutritional value for birds and is used to bulk up feed - birds often won’t eat it either, and will dump it on the ground to get to tastier food. Keen gardeners will appreciate no-grow seeds, which have been roasted, cracked, or ground so that they don’t germinate in borders or lawns.

Berries

Birds and berries have a symbiotic relationship; berries give birds vital nutrients and vitamins, and birds excrete berry seeds so new shrubs and trees can grow. In areas without shrubbery or hedgerows, birds can miss out on this crucial part of their diet, so berries should be a mainstay of a good bird food. Mixed bird foods that include dried berries particularly suits robins, sparrows, and thrushes in late summer and autumn.

A more natural way to feed birds is in your gardening itself. Plants offer a fantastic opportunity to provide natural wild bird food as part of your wider garden design. Sunflowers and their seeds are a great source of protein, and holly and blackthorn provide invaluable berries year-round.

Where should I put bird food?

It’s best to put your feeder somewhere quiet, out of the reach of predators like cats or bigger birds. Your garden needs to have plenty of vegetation that birds can use for shelter and protection, but not too close to the feeders to avoid giving predators places to hide. Bird feeders should ideally be moved around the garden regularly to stop dropped food building up underneath them and increasing the risk of disease.

When should I feed the birds?

You can leave some food out for birds year-round, but their needs and the risk of disease changes with the seasons:

In Autumn and Winter - the best bird food for winter and spring is heavy, protein-rich food like suet. In the colder seasons it's crucial that birds find high-energy snacks to feed themselves and their chicks. Seeds and peanuts should only be used between November and April

In Spring and Summer - small amounts of mealworms are a great source of energy when they've been soaked in water. Make sure any leftovers are cleared away by dusk the same day (especially if scattered on the ground) to avoid hedgehogs eating them, as they can cause health problems. Suet products can be offered in moderation but don't use homemade fat balls in summer as they are prone to melting.

What shouldn't I feed wild birds?

Although some food from our kitchens is fine to give to birds, some should definitely be avoided:

Don’t feed birds big chunks of anything, because they can choke on the pieces. This is true for whole peanuts, desiccated coconut, and dry pieces of bread. Chop up your bird food to make it easier for them to eat
Junk food like crisps or biscuit crumbs are also a choking hazard, as well as containing dangerous additives with little nutritional value. Salty food like bacon rinds are also potentially hazardous, because birds can’t process the high levels of salt in human food. So while birds love peanuts, use plain, unseasoned ones that have been certified as safe for birds
Milk causes gut problems in birds and although some can eat fermented dairy - robins love mild grated cheddar - it’s best to err on the side of caution and avoid dairy products
Just as it does to humans, mouldy food can make birds ill. Make sure to store your bird food somewhere dry and clean out your bird feeder every few days to make sure food hasn’t gone off. This is especially important if you live in a city, or near water, as this food could attract rats

This Product Guide was last updated in July 2026. We apologise if anything has changed in price or availability.

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