Page 31 - Interface August Issue 2026

From My Garden Notebook
Sunbirds deserve a special mention because they are
among the most colourful visitors to our gardens. If you
decide to hang up a nectar feeder, use only ordinary white I’ve only recently put up my first
cane sugar mixed with clean water. A ratio of one part sugar water feeder, and I was
sugar to four parts water works well. Never add honey,
brown sugar, artificial sweeteners or food colouring. The amazed at how many birds came
feeder should also be washed regularly, and the nectar to investigate this strange orange
replaced every few days, more often in very hot weather. contraption hanging from a small

There are also a few foods that should never be offered. Bread branch on our balcony. Some took
may seem harmless, but it has very little nutritional value for
birds. Salty snacks, processed foods, mouldy leftovers and milk one cautious look before flying off,
should also be avoided. Wild birds have evolved to eat natural while others quickly decided it was
foods, and our job is to support their health, not unknowingly
put it at risk. worth trying. We now share our

It can be tempting to fill feeders to overflowing, but more is not lunch in the warm winter sunshine
always better. Birds should still spend most of their day searching with White bellied Sunbirds, Speckled
for natural food. A clean feeder with a modest Mousebirds and Blackeyed Bulbuls.
amount of fresh food is far healthier than one piled
high with old seed that sits for days. Remove any It has become one of the highlights
food that becomes wet or mouldy and wash feeders
of our day.
regularly to help prevent the spread of disease.
Perhaps the greatest reward has nothing to do
with the feeding itself. It is the simple pleasure of
becoming more aware of the wildlife around us.
Once you begin noticing the birds in your own
garden, you start looking at the seasons differently.
You notice the first call of a woodland kingfisher in
spring, the busy activity of weavers building nests,
or a pair of barbets raising their young. A garden
becomes far more than a collection of plants. It
becomes a living community.

In our next issue we’ll look at some of the biggest
dangers facing garden birds, including domestic
cats, window strikes and pesticides. We’ll also explore
a few simple ways to make our gardens even safer
for the remarkable birds that share them with us.

WHAT FOODS ARE SUITABLE FOR

GARDEN BIRDS?

• Black sunflower seeds for sparrows, weavers, finches and doves.
• Apple slices and orange halves for barbets, bulbuls and mousebirds.
• Mealworms for robins, flycatchers and other insect eating birds.
• Suet during winter for insect eaters.
• Fresh clean water every day.
• Sugar water for sunbirds, one part white sugar to four parts water.

AVOID: Bread, milk, salty foods, processed foods,

mouldy leftovers, honey and food colouring.

INTERFACEDigimag | AUGUST 2026 | 29