Anyone who has blackbirds in their garden is being urged to leave four food items on bird feeders to help them thrive going into the vital breeding season.

Blackbirds are among the most abundant birds in the UK, with estimates that there as many as six million breeding pairs and they are a common sight in gardens up and down the country. In winter, blackbirds stay in the UK rather than migrate, and so need to keep finding food in order to sustain themselves in the fallow and freezing winter months. Now the warmer spring weather is finally arriving, blackbirds are returning to our gardens in even greater numbers than before as breeding season nears.

Now, garden and wildlife experts are urging people to help blackbirds by putting out food for them and ensuring they have enough to eat.

Blackbirds will eat fruit, berries, seeds and oats. You can help them out by leaving out uncooked oats (like porridge oats), dog food, flaked maize or fat balls.

But these should either be scattered on the ground or left on a flat bird table (as long as it's cleaned regularly). That's because blackbirds are too large to feed from upright feeders.

The Woodland Trust says: "Blackbirds are too large to access most hanging bird feeders. To attract them to your garden, it's best to put out food on a bird table or scatter it on the ground.

There are plenty of options when it comes to feeding blackbirds: Mealworms, flaked maize, uncooked oats, fat balls and other fat-based food bars, waxworms, dog food (a good substitute for mealworms).

The Woodland Trust adds: “Common and widespread across the UK, the blackbird population is currently stable, although it has seen periods of decline in the past.

“One of the biggest threats is lack of food availability, particularly when the weather is dry. Leaving mealworms and ground feeder mix out on bird tables and planting bushes that attract caterpillars to your garden are great ways to help blackbirds.”