The RSPCA is urging people to put down food for birds, and there’s one common food that you can easily put on your bird tableAlex Evans Deputy Audience Editor and Almha Murphy Audience Writer
15:27, 15 Aug 2025
Cooked Pasta can support birds such as Robins(Image: Gary Mayes via Getty Images)
Green-fingered Brits are being urged to scatter pasta on their bird tables, in an effort to support our feathered friends during the crucial fledgling season. The idea of providing food for birds can be intimidating for many garden owners, with the belief that it requires expensive, specialist mixtures from garden centres or DIY shops, and is a pastime reserved for those with extra cash to spend on feeding local wildlife.
However, the RSPCA assures us that anyone can contribute to bird feeding without spending a fortune on specialist food – all you need are some common, budget-friendly kitchen staples. Alongside rice, potatoes and cheese, cooked pasta can be served up on bird tables.
It’s crucial to remember that the pasta must be cooked, never raw, as uncooked pasta could pose a risk to birds, so ensure it’s properly boiled and cooked beforehand. This is because raw pasta is hard for birds to digest. In some instances, it can cause bloating, discomfort, or even internal damage if it expands after being ingested.
Numerous bird species are facing threats due to habitat loss, dwindling food sources like the decline in insect populations, as well as climate change and pollution, reports the Mirror.
That’s why we’re being asked to lend a hand by supplying food for our avian neighbours, which will also help them in nourishing young fledglings come August.
Fledglings are young birds that have just departed their nests. Their tender years mean they’re still learning how to hunt for food, and they need plenty of nourishment to develop properly.
The RSPCA recommends putting out fruit, seeds, unsalted chopped peanuts and food scraps for garden birds.
The guidance states: “Birds love to eat: fruit – apples, pears and soft fruits; Suitable seeds and grains – like nyjer, millet, oats, and sunflower seeds; Peanuts – must be unsalted, fresh and that they don’t contain aflatoxin (a poison caused by fungus mould).
“Young chicks might choke on whole peanuts, so always put them in feeders with a smaller mesh; Food scraps – cooked pasta, rice and boiled potatoes or cheese and uncooked and unsalted bacon rind.”
The recommendations stress clearing away any remaining food each evening and keeping feeding areas clean at all times. This advice follows the RSPB’s temporary removal of flat bird tables from their outlets whilst investigating potential disease spread risks associated with exposed food left on flat surfaces.
The organisation now promotes regular cleaning of feeding stations and nesting boxes, along with swift removal of any uneaten provisions.
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