The Feeder Dilemma

 Back home after a weekend over the border in Derbyshire, I am, as usual, keeping an eye on the bird feeder action out there in the garden. It's been a disappointing winter, with the house sparrows doing their best to monopolise the big feeder (yes, we're lucky to have them – many towns and cities have none) and the starlings muscling in from time to time, no one having told them they're on the Red List of endangered species. Great tits and, to a slightly lesser extent, blue tits come and go, and the odd coal tit nips in from time to time (their long-tailed cousins prefer to feed in the trees). The goldfinches that were so abundant last year have hardly shown up, even at the nyger seed feeders I put up especially for them, the ingrates, and I've seen very few chaffinches and even fewer greenfinches, one of the dominant feeder-habitués last year. Of course, like practically everyone else, I enjoy watching the garden birds – and, in my case, the squirrels which are still trying to foil the squirrel-proof feeder, and failing ignominiously. Watching the birds gives us all great pleasure, it feels good, and it surely does us good – even Science tells us so (measurable benefits to mental and physical wellbeing, etc.) But does it do the birds good? Probably not. I keep reading and hearing unarguable evidence that feeding birds in the garden encourages the bullies and predators at the expense of more timid and vulnerable species which are already having enough trouble hanging on. The bold, aggressive species thrive on our largesse, which makes them still bolder and more aggressive, and that is bad news for many of the rest  – and, sadly, feeders can spread avian diseases, one of which recently had an all but exterminating effect on greenfinches. Bird feeders also act as an all-day buffet for sparrowhawks, but that's fine by me – I'm always excited to see one of them in the garden. 
Am I going to carry on feeding the birds? I expect I am, but probably in a more limited way. The birds, or most of them, will still come to the garden. And I'm going to clean the feeders thoroughly to make sure they don't spread disease among my feathered friends.