You can buy tubs of dried Mealworms from pet shops and garden centres these days for feeding to the birds, but I tend to find that they don’t like them very much….even in the Winter. On the other hand, they love the live, wriggly-squiggly versions that you can get from a few of the more discerning pet shops or from reptile and amphibian specialists. A deep-rimmed bowl of live Mealworms placed on the bird-table or even on the ground is a real bonus for parent birds of such species as Robins, Warblers, Wrens, Blackbirds, Thrushes and Tits when they’re struggling to find enough food to feed their ever-hungry young.

The above picture shows both the larval and pupating stages of the humble Mealworm Beetle, a spieces of Darkling Beetle. You could even try breeding your own Mealworms as they can be fairly expensive to purchase regularly, but it’s worth remembering that professional breeders usually treat them with a special “juvenile” hormone which prolongs the larval stage and often results in some individuals growing up to two inches in length!