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Starlings

Starlings

Starlings have gone from being a bird people took for granted to one that is red-listed in the UK, and a garden that has them is worth feeding properly. They want fat: fat balls, suet blocks and suet pellets are exactly what they are after, and mealworms are taken greedily, especially while they are feeding young in late spring.

The complication is that starlings arrive as a gang and can strip a feeder in an afternoon, which is why a lot of people quietly stop putting suet out. The practical answer is not to feed them less but to feed them separately: put fat balls and blocks somewhere open where the flock can get at them, and keep a second, smaller feeder for the tits and finches somewhere more enclosed, with cover close by. A caged fat ball or suet block feeder also slows a starling down without stopping it.

They are noisy, and squabbling on the lawn is part of the deal. It is also the best free entertainment a garden gives you in February.

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