Warning bird diseases could be spread through feeders

Putting out food could cause harm, report warns

Feeding the birds can help boost populations and see them through the winter, but can also put wildlife at risk of diseases at garden feeders, a study warns.

In Britain, where almost half of householders are thought to put out supplementary food for birds on bird tables and feeders, it has been linked to increases in populations of species using the resources.

The practice of putting out seeds, nuts and fat balls for garden visitors such as songbirds, which is particularly beneficial to them in the harsh winter months, can also improve people’s wellbeing and interest in nature.

But the study by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), which looked at 25 years of data on wild bird health threats, warned garden feeding could promote transmission of some diseases.

Garden feeders can encourage birds to repeatedly congregate in the same location, and bringing them into contact with other species which they would not otherwise interact with.

The risk can be increased if the bird tables and other feeding stations are not kept clean, so stale food, waste and droppings accumulate, the report warned.

The study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, used information on birds visiting gardens and observations of disease from “citizen science” project, the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch scheme which sees volunteers submitting findings year-round.

It combined information from the large-scale surveillance scheme with post-mortem examinations of birds, to track three of the most common diseases.

Dr Becki Lawson from ZSL’s Institute of Zoology said two of the diseases had emerged recently, causing epidemics affecting large numbers of birds.

Picture: Getty. Feeders may encourage birds to interact with species they would not normally come into contact with.