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With the nights drawing in and the temperatures falling it's time in our garden to start putting out more bird feeders. Currently we have a couple and, over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed them getting busier and busier, especially with greenfinches and goldfinches.

Just as I would not expect to serve food off a dirty plate, I don't expect our garden birds to eat from a grubby bird feeder. And, sorry to say, leave them for a while and they do get more than a tad grubby, both with droppings and mouldy food.

The problem with this, apart from looking unsightly, is the risk of the grubbiness harbouring diseases, such as salmonella, to which birds, like ourselves are susceptible.

This can be a particular problem around feeders because there's a large turnover of birds at these places, which can allow diseases to spread through the local population.Ìý So, simple advice, keep your feeding area clean!

Tony Whitehead with a feeder in his garden

First things first – always, always do your bird feeder cleaning outside – never in the kitchen – and always keep the utensils you use separate from any others. And wear washing up gloves you keep just for this purpose.Ìý

To clean our feeders I first get a large bucket of lukewarm water and make a mixture of one part ordinary disinfectant to 20 parts water.Ìý

Then I take the bird feeders apart.ÌýThis is where a good quality bird feeder can be separated from a cheap one.Ìý

Those that have been designed well are easy to take apart, those that have not are not.Ìý

Mine just have a couple of screws to undo, although I understand the RSPB is now selling one where the removal of a single pin results in the feeder coming to pieces – just hope the birds don't find the pin.

Once undone, I scrub the feeders with a small brush I keep just for this purpose, rinse in clean water and put on one side to dry. This is important to do before you refill because any lingering bugs will desiccate harmlessly when left.Ìý

Then it's on to the next feeder. All of ours take about three-quarters of an hour to do.Ìý

While the feeders are drying, I scrub the bird table with the disinfectant mix and again rinse off with fresh water.ÌýI also brush the paths clear of bird seedÌýand droppings, again to make sure everything's as it should be – all the while thinking how blooming lucky our local feathered friends are!

One last thing – scrub out the birdbath, again to remove any droppings – and top up with fresh water.Ìý

And that's it, once ready, I refill with the feeders with seed and pop back up on the hangers.

Blue tit on a feeder. Nigel Blake, RSPB-images.com

Location, location, location!

With regards to positioning, I look to place the feeders I suspend from our apple trees away from overhanging branches where birds may perch, again to avoid droppings.Ìý

However, I also try to place them reasonably close to cover in to which the birds can fly should they need to.ÌýI've noticed that the feeders nearer cover are always more visited than those further away.

I move the feeders around regularly too, in order to avoid a build up of seeds and droppings on the ground.

And, although sometimes tempted, I never go over the top in terms of the quantities of food, and keep a variety on offer (sunflower seed, nyger, peanuts).Ìý

What I'm doing is supplementing the birds' natural diet rather than entirely replacing it and trying to avoid them becoming habituated to one sort of food – sunflower seeds especially!Ìý

Within minutes of being back in the kitchen the first greenfinches are back, squabbling over the sunflowers, a little later joined by a blue tit, a little more bashful, picking a single seed and flying off to a perch to pick at it while held firmly between two tiny feet.

For more information about setting up your bird feeders for winter visit the RSPB's feed the bird page - linked from the top right of this page.

And if you'd like advice from the experts, the RSPB is holding its annual Feed the Birds Day on Saturday 25 October and putting on a special event the weekend before at Darts Farm in East Devon. Details of the event are also linked from this page.

If you have a question for me, or would like to share with is which birds are visiting your garden, use the garden birds messageboard.