"Graham Wells" wrote in message
om...
For years our neighbour used to feed the local birds every day with
lbs and lbs of seed etc.
All of my fruit trees have in the past been colonised with aphids etc
,the plums so much so that they have been more aphid than tree.
Since my neighbour left some few weeks ago I have watched the pairs of
blue tits work ceaselessly going down every branch of every tree in
the garden clearing anything that they could find,they work non stop
day in day out.They all seem to glow with health and seem fit as any
birds that I have seen.
In all the years that they were fed they never came near the
trees,except perhaps when they had young.
They are now working to live and not just living to be fed.
They are wild again and free of human manipulation and off the junk
food diet.
Nature has come back to the garden.
If I have an aphid free year I think I will know why.
Stop feeding them and see the difference it makes when natural food is
available.

If you are suggesting there's no need to feed when sufficient natural food
is available, I agree. But there's nothing wrong in feeding when times are
hard for the birds.