Why Autumn Is the Best Time to Plant for Birds

Autumn is when a wildlife garden quietly gets to work for the winter ahead. The soil is still warm from summer, the rain has arrived, and roots settled in now will keep growing through any mild spells right up until spring. Plant a berry-bearing shrub in October or November and it has months to establish before it is asked to produce a crop. It is also the cheapest and easiest moment to buy bare-root plants, which arrive dormant and settle quickly. Everything you put in now becomes a larder for blackbirds, thrushes and finches once the frosts bite.

Shrubs That Earn Their Keep

Berries are high-energy food, and the more variety you have, the longer the season of plenty lasts. Aim for three or four different shrubs if you have room, planted in a group rather than scattered singly, so birds find them easily and can move between them under cover.

• Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) — compact enough for a small garden, with clusters of orange-red berries in late summer that thrushes and redwings strip by December.
• Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) — the backbone of a native hedge. Its haws are taken by blackbirds and fieldfares, and its dense, thorny growth shelters nests in spring.
• Holly (Ilex aquifolium) — choose a female variety if you want berries. They hang on well into February, often long after everything else has gone.
• Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) — translucent red berries that glow in low winter sun and disappear fast once the cold sets in.
• Elder (Sambucus nigra) — grows quickly, suits a corner, and its dark berries are a favourite of blackcaps and blackbirds.
• Crab apple (Malus sylvestris) — fruit that lingers and softens, ideal for thrushes and winter visitors.
• Ivy — let a patch climb and flower. Its late flowers feed insects and its black berries ripen in late winter, precisely when birds need them most.

Prickly evergreens such as holly and ivy do double duty, giving birds somewhere to roost out of the wind and away from the attentions of cats.

Leave the Seed Heads Standing

One of the kindest things you can do for birds in autumn is nothing at all. Seed heads left on perennials feed goldfinches, greenfinches and siskins right through the lean months, and their hollow stems hold insects over winter too.

• Teasel, sunflower and globe thistle — goldfinches will cling to these for hours.
• Echinacea, rudbeckia and Michaelmas daisies — sturdy cones that weather well.
• Nigella and honesty — quick to seed and easy to leave.
• Lavender and rosemary — leave the flower spikes on rather than clipping them in autumn.

Delay the big cut-back until late March or early April, once the worst of the weather has passed. By then the seeds are gone, the stems have sheltered overwintering ladybirds and lacewings, and new growth is ready to push through.

Fallen Leaves Are a Foraging Ground

A leaf-strewn border is not untidiness; it is a feeding station. Damp leaf litter is alive with worms, beetles, grubs and larvae, and it stays softer than bare ground when frost hardens the lawn. Blackbirds, song thrushes, mistle thrushes, redwings and fieldfares all work through it, flicking leaves aside and pausing to listen for movement beneath.

So leave the leaves where they fall, under shrubs and among perennials. Rake them off paths and lawns if you must, but pile them in a corner rather than bagging them for the tip, and let the heap rot down into leaf mould. If you can, avoid tidying the litter first thing on a cold morning — birds feed hardest at dawn, when their energy reserves are at their lowest.

Planting and Aftercare, Briefly

• Plant bare-root shrubs between November and early March, whenever the ground is not frozen or waterlogged.
• Dig a hole wider than the roots need, plant to the same depth as the nursery soil mark, firm gently and water well.
• Mulch around the base with well-rotted compost or bark, keeping it clear of the stem itself.
• Water through the first summer during dry spells; after that, most native shrubs look after themselves.
• No garden? A rowan, hawthorn or crab apple in a large pot will still crop on a balcony or patio.

Resist the Urge to Tidy

Winter birds need three things from a garden: food, water and cover. Berries and seed heads provide the first, a shallow dish kept topped up provides the second, and dense shrubs provide the third. Hold off cutting hedges after September, since you will be removing the very berries you planted for, and leave ivy alone until spring.

Even a small plot can be transformed by a handful of decisions made now: three berry-bearing shrubs, one patch of seed heads left standing, and a corner of leaves left to rot. Do that this autumn, and by the first hard frost the garden will be busy with birds.