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Blackbirds & Thrushes

Blackbirds & Thrushes

Blackbirds and song thrushes are ground feeders, and that single fact decides everything about how you feed them. Neither will use a hanging feeder. Both work along the bottom of a hedge, across a lawn and under the shrubs, turning leaf litter over for worms and insects — so food put out at head height is food they will never find.

Dried mealworms and suet pellets are the two things that make the most difference to them, particularly in a dry summer when the ground is too hard for worms, and in freezing weather when it is too hard for anything. Scatter on a bird table, a ground feeding tray, or a cleared patch of lawn, and put out small amounts often rather than a large amount at once — anything left overnight attracts what you would rather not attract.

A seed mix gives them something to work through the rest of the time. A husk-free blend is the sensible choice for ground feeding, because what a blackbird leaves behind is what sprouts in the lawn a fortnight later.

Related ranges

Much the same suits robins. Browse mealworms, suet pellets and wild bird seed.

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