The RSPB recommends five kitchen scraps:
• Uncooked porridge oats
• Cake crumbs
• Potatoes – baked, roast and even mashed
• Grated cheese
• Wind fallen, soft or over-ripe fruits.

These contain fats and sugars which help birds with their one aim: surviving the winter in order to breed next spring.

Not all kitchen scraps are good for birds. You should avoid:
Bread – it has very low nutritional content and is essentially a filler
Salted foods such as bacon or peanuts – salt is bad for birds’ nervous systems
Polyunsaturated fats or vegetable oils – these can smear birds’ feathers making them less waterproof
Milk – birds’ stomachs are not designed to digest milk
Desiccated coconut – this may swell up inside a bird causing it to die.

Putting out seed, peanuts or kitchen scraps will help your birds on a day-to-day basis. A clean supply of fresh water is also essential. Now is a great time to think longer term about turning your garden into a haven for wildlife. A few simple steps taken now will help birds, insects, hedgehogs and bats the following spring.

Plant deciduous trees, native shrubs and climbers like honeysuckle, rose and ivy to provide food and shelter. Leave patches of long grass to provide a home for insects. Sow nectar and seed-rich flowers such as alyssum, sunflower and knapweed to encourage insects for birds to feed on. The RSPB runs Homes for Wildlife which offers free, tailored wildlife-gardening advice to help you transform your home and garden into a mini nature reserve.

Since its launch in 2007, more than 65,000 people across the UK people have signed up. They are now helping to create a better future for birds like house sparrows, starlings and song thrushes. Find out more about feeding birds in your garden at an RSPB Feed the Birds Day event. For details of how to register for Homes for Wildlife, visit the RSPB website www.rspb.org.uk/hfw.