Overview
- The RSPB’s new seasonal advice asks people to stop offering seed mixes and peanuts from May through October to cut trichomonosis spread at crowded feeders.
- Trichomonosis is a parasite passed in saliva or regurgitated food, so shared feeders and birdbaths turn into high-risk contact points.
- The charity urges weekly feeder cleaning, daily changes of birdbath water from the tap, regular shifts of feeding spots, and no flat bird tables.
- Gardeners can switch to safer support by growing seed-rich and insect-friendly plants such as sunflowers, teasels, ivy, echinacea, and rudbeckia, with small amounts of mealworms, fat balls, or suet still fine year-round.
- The push follows Big Garden Birdwatch data showing greenfinches down by about two-thirds, with chaffinches also falling and experts warning the disease has moved into more finch species.