Every spring, as the days grow longer and gardens burst into bloom, millions of people across the UK fill their bird feeders, hoping to help their feathered neighbors thrive. But this year, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has sounded a stark warning: feeding garden birds in the warmer months could be doing more harm than good, especially for species like the greenfinch, which has suffered catastrophic declines due to a deadly disease linked to feeders.
The alarm comes on the heels of the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch (BGBW), held during the last weekend of January 2026. More than 650,000 participants across the UK logged sightings of garden birds, providing a vital snapshot of avian populations. The results, published on April 10, 2026, paint a worrying picture for some species. Greenfinch numbers, in particular, have plummeted by 67.2% since the survey began in 1979, dropping from seventh place in 1979 to eighteenth in the 2025 count. The greenfinch is now on the UK Red List of endangered birds—a sobering status for a bird once so common it was a fixture in nearly every garden.
What’s behind this dramatic decline? According to the RSPB and reported by BBC, the culprit is trichomonosis, a disease caused by a parasite that attacks the mouth, throat, and upper digestive tracts of birds. Infected birds struggle to eat, drink, or even breathe, and tragically, the disease is easily spread at garden feeders. The parasite is shed in saliva and droppings, contaminating food sources that other birds then consume. To make matters worse, adults can pass the infection directly to chicks when regurgitating food.
“Feeding birds is something millions of us love and value, but the science shows us that birds such as greenfinches have been affected by the spread of disease at feeders,” said RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight, as quoted by BBC. The charity’s message is clear: the risks posed by traditional feeding practices can no longer be ignored.
In response, the RSPB has issued new guidance urging people to stop feeding garden birds between May 1 and October 31, the period when warmer weather turns busy feeders into disease hotspots. The advice marks a significant shift from decades of encouragement to feed birds year-round. From the beginning of last year, the RSPB stopped selling flat-surface feeders—such as the beloved but now controversial bird table—and recommends that all such designs be retired. Research suggests that flat surfaces accumulate contaminated debris, increasing the risk of disease transmission.
“We’re not asking people to stop feeding, just to feed in a way that protects birds’ long-term health,” Speight added. The charity now recommends that, if people wish to continue feeding, they should offer only small amounts of food—such as mealworms, suet balls, and seeds—enough to last a day or two at most. Feeders should be cleaned thoroughly at least once a week and moved to a different location after each cleaning to prevent contaminated debris from building up underneath. Fresh water should only be provided if it can be changed daily, and bird baths should be scrubbed clean every week.
The RSPB’s new mantra is “feed seasonally, feed safely.” The hope is that this simple message will be easier for the public to follow, even if it means saying a “fond farewell” to traditional bird tables. The charity acknowledges that changing habits will take time. “We are well aware that things won’t change overnight and that behaviour change will take years, if not decades. We have therefore sought to keep our advice as simple as possible to make it easier for people to follow,” said Martin Fowlie of the RSPB.
The scale of the shift is enormous. Over 16 million UK households regularly put out food for birds, according to estimates cited by the BBC. There is thought to be one bird feeder for every nine birds using them—a testament to the nation’s affection for its garden wildlife. The bird food industry is equally massive, with UK Pet Food estimating annual spending at £380 million, amounting to more than 150,000 tonnes of bird food each year. That’s enough, experts say, to sustain three times the breeding populations of the ten most common garden species if they relied on it all year round.
Not everyone is on board with the new guidance. The pet food industry has pushed back, warning that the advice represents “a significant change to long-established advice” and could “confuse the millions of people who regularly feed birds.” Michael Bellingham, chief executive of UK Pet Food, told BBC: “The evidence informing these changes is still evolving, and much of the research underpinning this has not yet been published or widely scrutinised.”
Some bird lovers are also conflicted. Helen Rowe, from the Isle of Dogs in London, told BBC Your Voice that she loves watching the sparrows flock to the seeds and fat balls she leaves outside her home. “It’s really nice to see them from the window—they look very chipper out there,” she said. But Rowe is determined to do the right thing for the birds’ health: “I want to support the birds—I don’t want to do anything that’s going to spread disease.”
Other voices, like Dick Woods, who runs a company making easy-to-clean bird feeders, have raised questions about whether the advice should apply uniformly across the country. “Every garden is different. In some places, food is so abundant that birds don’t use feeders very much; in other areas there is little alternative,” Woods told BBC. The RSPB acknowledges these concerns but argues that a single, clear message is more likely to be effective on a national scale.
Behind the scenes, the RSPB says its new guidance was developed with scientists from the British Trust for Ornithology and the Institute of Zoology, based on what it describes as a “thorough and robust” review of the evidence. The full report will be published online, the charity promises. The risks associated with bird feeding have been known for more than 15 years, leading some critics to wonder why it took so long for the RSPB to act. The charity responds that gathering and analyzing the evidence has been a lengthy process, and that it has weighed the growing scientific consensus against the benefits that feeding birds brings—not only to bird populations but to the people who enjoy and feel connected to nature through the practice.
For now, the RSPB is leading by example. It will also stop selling bird feeders and bird food during the warmer months, and it urges the public to do the same. The message is not to stop caring for garden birds, but to care for them more wisely. As Beccy Speight put it, “By making small changes together, we can ensure garden feeding continues to be a positive force for nature.”
As the UK’s gardens fill with birdsong this spring, the hope is that a little restraint—and a lot of soap and water—will help protect vulnerable species like the greenfinch for generations to come.