How to Support Nesting Birds in Your Garden — Without Disturbing Them
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Published by The Wildlife Food Company | May 2026
Right now, your garden is busier than it looks.
Behind the hedgerow, tucked into the ivy, hidden in the eaves — there are birds incubating eggs, brooding chicks, and making dozens of food runs every hour of daylight. May and June represent the peak of nesting activity across almost all UK garden bird species.
That invisibility is actually the point. Nesting birds are doing everything they can to avoid being noticed. And the most important thing we can do as gardeners and wildlife supporters is to respect that — while quietly making their lives a little easier.
Here's how.
What's Actually Happening Right Now
Nesting season in the UK typically runs from March to August, with peak activity between April and early July. By mid-May, most of our familiar garden birds are well into the breeding cycle. Robins and blackbirds may already be on second broods. Blue tits and great tits are feeding hungry nestlings in boxes and cavities. House martins and Swallows arrive back in the UK during April and May, with breeding taking place between May and August. Spotted flycatchers are even later, arriving back in late April and well into May, breeding between May and July — and often in gardens where suitable habitat exists.
As we move into May and June, eggs are laid and the crucial phase of incubation begins, demanding significant energy and focus from parent birds as they keep eggs at a consistent temperature. Every disturbance matters. Every interruption to a feeding run costs the chicks inside.
The Law: Nesting Birds Are Protected
Before anything else, it's worth understanding the legal position — because it applies to your private garden just as much as it does to a public forest.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is an offence to intentionally damage or destroy a nest while it is in use or being built, to take or destroy the eggs of any wild bird, or to disturb certain rare species while nesting. Breaking these laws can result in an unlimited fine, up to six months in prison, or both.
The most common way well-meaning gardeners accidentally fall foul of this is hedge cutting. The RSPB recommends avoiding hedge cutting between March and August. Even if the nest seems abandoned, birds may simply be nearby watching — and if you can't be certain a nest is absent, wait until the fledglings have gone.
Even removing surrounding foliage without touching the nest itself can expose chicks to predators or the elements, and may cause the parents to abandon them. If you have a nest in an inconvenient spot this year, the kindest and safest approach is simply to leave it alone until the season is over.
Strimming is another threat to birds as many species next on the ground. No mow May is a good mantra to go by. Leave that grass long and come back to it later in the season.
What Nesting Birds Actually Need From You
High-Protein Food — The Right Kind
Parent birds are working at an extraordinary rate right now, making food run after food run to keep their chicks developing. Research shows that animal protein, such as mealworms, boosts chick survival — which is why the RSPB recommends offering small amounts year-round.
Dried mealworms are the single best thing you can put out this month. During spring and summer, dried mealworms can be soaked in water to make them easier for nestlings to eat and to increase their moisture content. Put out small, fresh amounts regularly — a little and often works better than a large pile left to sit.
One critical point: avoid putting out loose whole peanuts during nesting season, as these can be a choking hazard for chicks. If an adult bird carries a whole peanut back to the nest, it can be fatal for young birds. Suet blocks and suetballs are a good alternative — high energy, safe for chicks, and taken readily by a wide range of species. Just stick to purpose-made products rather than homemade fat balls, which can melt in warm summer weather.
You can browse our mealworm and summer suet range here → Suet products
Fresh Water, Changed Daily
Water is arguably more important than food during the breeding season — for drinking, for bathing, and for keeping feathers in the condition needed for flight. A shallow bird bath is essential for both drinking and bathing during nesting season. Keep it shallow enough for small birds to use safely, position it away from cover where cats could lurk, and change it every single day with fresh tap water.
Nesting Materials
You can support nesting birds by leaving out small piles of dry grass, twigs and even pet fur — provided it hasn't been treated with flea chemicals — for birds to use as nest lining. It costs nothing and genuinely helps. Avoid synthetic materials, string, or anything that could entangle chicks.
Keep Cats In
This one is simple but significant. If you know fledglings are present in your garden — chicks that have left the nest but can't yet fly — try to keep cats indoors during the early morning and evening when young birds are most vulnerable. A fledgling on the ground is not necessarily lost or abandoned; it's almost certainly being watched by its parents. The best thing to do is keep a safe distance and give it space. If you're going to give wildlife a real chance then try and keep cats indoors for the months of May - June. It might mean changing litter trays but your local wildlife will thank you for it.
Where to Position Feeders During Nesting Season
Feeders placed too close to a known nest site can cause problems — other birds arriving to feed create disturbance that may stress the nesting pair or attract predators. Feeders should be placed well away from any potential nest sites to reduce disturbance. If you know where a nest is, move your feeder to the opposite end of the garden for the season.
And as always, hygiene matters — perhaps even more so in warm weather when bacteria and pathogens multiply more quickly. For a full guide to keeping your feeders safe during the warmer months, read our dedicated post: The Importance of Cleaning Bird Feeders →
Think Longer Term: Planting for Nesting Birds
The single most powerful thing you can do for nesting birds isn't food — it's habitat. Planting a variety of native shrubs, trees and flowers provides food, shelter and nesting sites. Dense foliage and thorny plants offer protection from predators, while climbing plants like ivy create natural nesting sites.
Even small changes make a difference. A pot of native wildflowers supports the insects that insectivorous birds need to feed their chicks. A patch of unmown lawn. A log pile. A hedgerow left untrimmed. None of these require much effort, but together they make a garden genuinely valuable to wildlife — not just as a feeding station, but as a home.
One More Thing
More than half of England's most threatened breeding birds nest on or near the ground, making them especially vulnerable to disturbance during the critical breeding season, which runs from March to September. When you're out walking, stick to marked paths, keep dogs on leads, and give a wide berth to any birds showing signs of agitation — that behaviour is almost always a sign there's a nest nearby.
And this time of year, those acts really count.