‘Imperative we understand the impact’: scientists investigate surge in wild bird feeding during pandemic

Spending 10 minutes connecting with nature can significantly enhance wellbeing. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Interest in wild bird feeding surged over the pandemic, a study has found.

Researchers used data from Google Trends to assess the weekly frequency of searches for terms including “bird feeder”, “bird food” and “bird bath” from January 2019 to May 2020. After two weeks of lockdown, there was a dramatic increase in bird-related searches.