It’s has suddenly become cold out there. From a mild start to November it has quickly turned frosty, and it’s a shock to the system. Imagine what it must be like for garden birds. I’ve written recently about the need to feed birds in the garden – and they need this nutritional helping hand now more than ever.
In winter, birds need food that his high in fat and high in protein. There are seeds, there are nuts and there are mealworms that offer this. But in recent years there has been a kind of revolution in the world of wild bird food. And that is the introduction of direct fats and suet – the kinds used in Peckish Complete Energy Balls, and Peckish Daily Goodness Nuggets.
But now there is a new kid on the block (with ‘block’ being the operative word): I’m talking about Peckish Complete All Seasons Suet Cake. This is a solid block of ingredients, in one easy-to-handle ‘cake’, that provides the fats and energy that birds need. It can be hung out all-year-round, but now, at the start of winter, is when it will be of most use.
When you buy it from the garden centre, this cake comes sealed in a film bag to keep it air-tight and hygienic. But also it has its own metal ‘birdcage’ designed specially to fit the suet cake snugly inside. It even has a metal hanging chain to hook over a tree branch, or arm of a bird feed stand.
The cake itself is made from a list of ingredients that, to you and me, don’t sound very appetising. A bird, however, would salivate at the thought (do birds salivate?). In the mix is maize, sunflower hearts and peanuts (all kibbled to make it easier for small birds to eat), as well as ground wheat and wheat flour, red dari, red millet, oats and oatmeal, and oyster shell grit (birds need small amounts of grit to help them digest their food). All of this is held together by a sturdy block of beef tallow. Yum!
Also in the feed is Calvita®*, the unique Peckish vitamin and mineral blend – just the thing to help keep garden birds fitter, healthier and more able to withstand the rigours of winter.
Peckish Complete All Seasons Suet Cake is a brand new product so you are only seeing it now in the garden centre for the first time. I hung mine up last week, and within 24 hours a robin and two blue tits were feeding off it – that’s very quick for a newly hanging feeder; usually birds are very wary of going near to something new for much longer than this.
Go on, give your garden birds a slice of cake!
Calvita® is a blend of nutrients unique to Peckish bird feed products, developed to replace the nutrients that garden birds need to stay healthy. It contains carotenoids (for protecting feather colour and damage from sunlight), calcium (for promoting egg production, and bone and feather growth), and vitamins A, D, E and Biotin (for strengthening beaks and helping overall growth).
Final tip
If squirrels get to any nuts you put out, before the birds can, you should do something about it. Place your feeders well away from trees or anything a squirrel could climb, or even better, hang the Peckish Squirrel-Proof Peanut Feeder – which is cleverly designed to foil these marauders.
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