Overview
- The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds now recommends pausing seed and peanut feeding from May through October to reduce disease transmission at communal feeders.
- Warm, dry weather increases bacterial and parasite growth on feeders and in stagnant water, which raises the risk of illnesses such as trichomonosis that have driven declines in greenfinch and chaffinch populations.
- Experts say the single most urgent action is to provide clean, shallow water for drinking and bathing and to refresh or rinse bird baths daily with a full scrub at least once a week to limit pathogens.
- Gardeners should favour insect-rich, pesticide-free planting, delay hedge trimming until after nesting and offer small quantities of safer summer foods such as mealworms, suet or fatballs rather than seeds.
- The guidance responds to the current heatwave and a longer-term decline in UK bird numbers and asks households to replace summer feeding with habitat and hygiene measures that protect nesting birds and their food sources.