On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 10:11:13 +0100, "Dave Smith"
wrote:

Article today in D Mail that it's not a good idea to feed birds during the
winter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2348635/Why-feeding-birds-winter-bad-Leaving-food-reduce-breeding-success-spring.html?ico=sciencetech^headlines


Having read the original paper when it was published last week I would
summarise it as an interesting but fairly limited study of one species
in a woodland environment. The focus was primarily on winter feeding
of fat supplements which had an apparent impact on reproductive and
fledgling success.

The possible causes for this were the survival through the winter of
potential parent birds who would not normally make it through to the
reproductive stage - thus poor reproductive success; insufficient
spring/summer food to support increased number of fledglings and
unbalanced diet resulting in imperfect eggs.

It did point out that all year round feeding could well reverse any
adverse impact and it did cite other research which indicated that
supplementary nuts led to increased fledgling success.

From watching the activity on our feeders there is no doubt that blue
tits tend to favour fat supplement over seed but also spend a lot of
time on the nut feeder.
--
rbel