When snow covers vegetation and the ground freezes in winter, foraging for wildlife can become a challenge. Many garden owners then turn to suet balls and other ready-made food to help the animals. But not all support makes sense. Which wild animals benefit from additional feeding? What food should they be offered? And which animals are not allowed to be fed?
In winter, and especially when there is frost, the food supply for many wild animals shrinks. Garden birds in particular then come into focus, and bird feeders and suet balls are an integral part of the cold season for many people. But while some species benefit from the additional energy, help for other wild animals is neither necessary nor useful. What’s also important is not just whether to feed, but how.
Feeding: yes or no and what?
Birds in particular, and especially common species such as blackbirds, tits and sparrows, are often fed additionally in winter. Some experts criticize that by feeding on large areas, humans are influencing natural processes, potentially creating dependencies and, above all, promoting species that are already widespread. However, the study situation is inconsistent: feeding in winter can lead to earlier egg laying and more surviving young birds. Other studies, however, report lighter, less survivable offspring or find no measurable effect at all. Whether birds should also be fed in summer is also controversial among ornithologists.
If you want to get under the wings of birds in winter, you should differentiate between grain eaters and soft food eaters. Grain eaters such as finches, sparrows and buntings can crack sunflower seeds, hemp and other seeds with their more powerful beaks. Soft food eaters, which include robins, dunnocks, wrens, blackbirds and starlings, on the other hand, prefer fruits, finer seeds or animal food. Garden owners can offer them oatmeal, poppy seeds, bran, raisins and fruit close to the ground.
Tits, woodpeckers and nuthatches are considered “omnivores” and can feed on grain food in winter. Fat-grain mixtures such as suet balls or food rings are also suitable for soft food and omnivores, provided they are placed within easy reach. However, many pure soft food eaters prefer to consume these energy-rich suet mixtures in crumbled form from the ground. The fat contained serves as a substitute for the otherwise animal food.
Food from the garden
To offer the food, feed dispensers in which the animals cannot walk around and soil it with feces are suitable. This prevents the spread of pathogens. Feed houses and silos protect the feed from wind and weather so that it does not spoil so quickly. However, it is important to regularly remove the leftovers and rinse the feeder with hot water to avoid disease, and then refill the food without overfilling it. A location that is protected from cats and other predators increases safety for the birds.
But there doesn’t have to be a lack of natural food sources in the garden: berry-bearing trees such as elderberry, mountain ash, sea buckthorn or hawthorn can still provide fruit even in winter – as can fallen fruit that have been left lying around. If you cut back perennials after winter, you help the birds without having to do anything, because insects overwinter in the stems and serve as food for them. At the same time, many seeds remain on the seed heads, which are also often eaten. Not only birds, but also squirrels eat nuts and acorns from hazel, walnut or oak.
These wild animals must not be fed
According to the state hunting laws of the various federal states, foxes, wild boars, deer or roe deer are not allowed to be fed. This is intended to protect them from the wrong food – there are only exceptions for foresters and hunters. In addition, feeding can cause wild animals to lose their fear of people and venture into urban areas more often. Violating the feeding ban is an administrative offense and can be punished with a fine. In addition, feeding is unnecessary in most cases.