Enjoying the garden is one of the great pleasures of the summer and not only do flowers, blooms and a nice lawn provide us with a quiet haven but the local wildlife can be just as important in making our gardens a great place to be.

Nearly everybody enjoys the sight and sounds of birds and encouraging them in your garden can be really rewarding, especially if you can attract a diverse range of bird types.

Across the UK millions of us enjoy attracting birds to our garden and the best method to this is to use bird tables and bird feeders.

Choosing a bird table or bird feeder

There are a whole host of bird tables, nesting boxes,bird bowls and feeders available and selecting one will depend on two things:

What birds you would like to attract

Bird feeders come in all shapes and sizes

What bird table looks nice your garden

Some birds are quite fussy about where they feed or nest so if you want to attract something like a housemartin or swallow to your home, you'll have to provide a swallow or housemartin bowl high up near the roof; while if you would like to see the more common garden birds conventional feeders and tables will attract them.

Looking after the birds

Bird food is readily available but it is also really easy to make your own. Use plenty of seeds and choose a variety for the differing birds. Smaller birds like sparrows prefer small seeds like millet while larger species will eat sunflower and sesame seeds.

There are other things to remember when using bird tables and feeders as feeding the birds is just like looking after pets. You need to ensure the bird table is regularly cleaned and bird feeders and emptied and replenished regularly. Birds can get diseases too and as more are attracted to your garden its important you reduce the risk of them becoming ill.