Bird tables and ground feeding, under the current advice

A bird table used to be the default first purchase. A flat board on a post, a roof, perhaps a hook or two underneath, and a scatter of scraps for whatever turned up. Many gardens still have one. This guide is about what to do with it now, and about the birds that would rather feed on the ground than cling to a tube.

The short answer has changed. The RSPB’s October 2026 explainer, dated 30 October 2026 and opened on 14 November 2026, says do not use bird feeders with flat surfaces, “such as bird tables, window feeders and feeders with trays”. Their feeding page says the same in fewer words: clean and move your feeders weekly, and retire bird tables and other flat-surfaced feeders. This page reports that advice. It does not argue with it.

Why a flat surface is the problem

The reason the RSPB gives is disease, and in particular trichomonosis. Their explainer says sick birds often perch on flat surfaces and try to feed. The disease makes swallowing hard, so they often bring food back up onto the surface, where healthy birds then pick it up. The RSPB says its evidence review found that bird tables and other flat feeders pose the greatest risk of disease transmission.

The line that matters most for anyone who scrubs their table conscientiously is this one: they say even daily cleaning will not prevent healthy birds eating food that has already been regurgitated. Cleaning the board in the morning does not help the bird that lands on it at noon. That is why the advice is to stop using the table, not to clean it harder.

A hanging feeder still needs cleaning. The routine for that is in cleaning bird feeders. The difference is that a hanging tube or mesh cage does not give a sick bird a platform to sit and drop food onto in the same way.

What to do with an existing table

You do not need to rip it out tonight, but you should stop putting food on it. Some practical options:

• Take it down. The simplest choice. It also removes a perch that pigeons and squirrels use.
• Keep the post, lose the board. A sturdy post can carry a hanging feeder bracket instead. Hanging feeders are compared in bird feeders.
• Leave it as a garden ornament, empty. If you keep it, keep it empty. A table with no food on it is not a feeding station.

Tables with a nest box built into the roof are a separate problem. The nest box guide explains why a box should be away from a feeder in the first place.

Birds that feed on the ground

The reason people liked tables is that some birds do not cling. The RSPB’s blackbird page describes blackbirds as almost exclusively ground feeders, eating worms, insects, berries and fruit, and often turning over leaves. Their robin page says robins visit gardens for mealworms and suet, and follow gardeners to pick up worms and grubs that have been dug up. Neither of those birds is going to hang off a seed tube the way a goldfinch does.

The current advice does not ignore them. It changes how you help them:

• Natural ground food first. Leaves left where they fall, and a log or stick pile, give blackbirds, robins and dunnocks invertebrates to search for. That is covered in leaf litter, log piles and compost.
• Suet in a hanging cage. The RSPB’s robin page names suet as one of the foods robins come to gardens for. When and how much to offer is in what to feed garden birds.
• Mealworms, cleared by dusk. The RSPB says mealworms should all be eaten or cleared away by dusk the same day, “especially if scattered on the ground”. They add that this stops hedgehogs eating leftover mealworms, which hedgehog rehabilitators have raised as a concern.
• Soaked sultanas. The BTO’s feeding page describes sultanas, soaked in water first, as good for ground-feeding blackbirds.

Keep any ground offering small. Food that is still there at dusk is food for rats, and on wet ground it spoils fast.

The ground under a hanging feeder

Even if you never scatter food on purpose, there is a ground feeding station under every hanging feeder. Birds drop seed and husks, and the RSPB says trichomonosis was found on food in feeders, in base trays, and on the ground below. Their advice:

• Clean away old food and droppings from beneath feeders.
• Do not hang feeders under places where birds roost, such as under trees, so droppings do not land on the food.
• Put the feeder in a different spot every week, so contaminated debris does not build up in one place.
• If you have more than one feeder, put them in different areas, to reduce how many birds gather in one place.

Moving a feeder every week is easier if you plan two or three spots in advance. The trade-offs for each spot, including distance from cover and from windows, are in where to put a bird feeder.

Cats and ground feeding

A bird feeding on the ground, head down, is easier for a cat to reach than one on a hanging feeder away from fences and sheds. The RSPB feeding page says place feeders not too close to bushes where predators could hide, but close enough to cover that birds can dart away. That balance is harder to strike with food on open ground. If a cat uses your garden, read cats and garden birds before deciding to feed on the ground at all.

Can I keep using my bird table if I clean it every day?

The RSPB says no. Their explainer says even daily cleaning will not stop healthy birds eating food a sick bird has already brought back up, and that no flat-surface feeders should be used.

How do I feed blackbirds without a table?

Suet in a hanging cage, natural food such as leaf litter and berries, and small amounts of mealworms or soaked sultanas that are gone by dusk. Clear what is left.

Is a ground feeder tray any better than a table?

The RSPB lists feeders with trays alongside bird tables and window feeders as flat surfaces to avoid. A tray on the ground is still a flat surface.