Birds Not Feeling The Economic Freeze

With the gloomy economic outlook everyone is feeling the financial pinch but it looks as if birds will not suffer.  In a survey* 87% of those respondents who normally feed the birds said that they would not cut back on feeding them this winter as a result of the pressure on household budgets. Only 8% said that increasing household costs would mean that they would have to cut back on feeding the birds.  
 
Feeding birds tends to be a hobby of older age groups and this is borne out by the survey. Only 44% of 18-24 year olds who answered the survey fed their birds but of this smaller figure 80% won’t be changing their bird feeding habits.  For the over 65 age group, 80% of respondents feed their birds and 90% of this figure say they will continue to feed them even if their purse strings get tighter.  This is significant as it is this age group which particularly faces pressures of declining savings, higher heating bills and in some cases, care costs.
 
Regionally it is those in Central England which are most likely to cut back on feeding the birds (12%) whereas there was no-one in the survey in Northern Ireland who will stop feeding the birds as a result of the economic downturn.
 
Jane Lawler, marketing director of Gardman, says “It appears that although consumers are cutting down their expenditure in many areas of their lives, they feel that feeding the birds remains an important part of helping wildlife through the winter and also they want to continue to enjoy watching the birds.  This seems to be particularly important to older people.”

*YourSayPays December omnibus, 1442 respondents (35% of which do not normally feed birds)