By October, the hedgerows have done their work. The blackberries are finished, the sloes are blue with bloom, and the first redwings are arriving from Scandinavia after a long flight over the North Sea. What they need, and what the birds staying put all winter need, is sugar and fat in a convenient package. That package is the berry, and it is one of the easiest things you can add to a garden.

Plant a berry-bearing shrub or small tree this autumn and you are not just decorating a corner. You are laying a table that will be visited from November right through to March, sometimes by birds you will never see in summer.

Why Autumn Berries Matter So Much

Insects disappear in cold weather, and ground-feeding becomes hard work once the soil is frozen or waterlogged. Fruit is a high-energy alternative, and different species ripen and soften at different times, spreading the food supply across the whole winter. A single rowan in full fruit can hold hundreds of thousands of berries, and a hungry flock of waxwings can strip one tree in a few days.

Two things determine how useful your berries are. The first is when they ripen and how long they last. The second is what size the fruit is, because a mistle thrush and a blackcap cannot tackle the same berry. Variety across your plot is what keeps birds coming back.

One caution: berries left too long can ferment, and birds eating them may become briefly unsteady. This is normal and rarely serious, but it is another reason to plant several species rather than relying on one heavy crop.

Rowan: The Thrushes' Favourite

Rowan, or mountain ash, is the single best value berry tree for a British garden. It is compact enough for a small plot, typically reaching five to eight metres, and it will grow in most soils, including thin and slightly acidic ground. The clusters of scarlet fruit ripen in late summer and are taken eagerly by song thrushes, mistle thrushes, redwings and fieldfares.

• Plant in full sun or light shade for the heaviest crop.
• Choose a named fruiting form with good autumn colour if you want the double reward of orange and red foliage.
• Berries are eaten early in cold snaps, so plant more than one tree where space allows.

Waxwings, those sleek crested visitors from northern Scandinavia, are almost obsessed with rowan. In a good waxwing winter, a fruiting rowan in a suburban front garden can attract a flock within hours of their arrival on the east coast.

Holly: A Long-Lasting Larder

Holly is the patient one. Its berries hang on the tree well into the new year, often when everything else has gone, making it invaluable in late winter. It also provides dense evergreen cover for roosting and nesting, and its spiny leaves give small birds somewhere safe to sit.

The catch is sex. Holly is dioecious, meaning individual trees are either male or female, and only females carry berries. You need a male somewhere nearby for pollination, so if you are planting a hedge or a group, mix them. Check the label before you buy, or ask at the nursery.

• Holly tolerates shade, pollution and heavy clipping, so it suits town gardens and boundaries.
• Berries are eaten by thrushes and, later, by blackbirds and fieldfares.
• Prune lightly in late winter rather than cutting hard in autumn, so you do not remove the current crop.

Guelder Rose: The Underrated Beauty

Guelder rose is a native shrub that deserves far more garden space than it gets. In late spring it carries flat lace-caps of creamy white flowers, and by September those have become clusters of translucent scarlet berries that glow when backlit. Autumn foliage turns a deep crimson before it falls.

It is a plant of damp ground, so it suits a pond edge, a boggy corner or a heavy clay soil that would defeat other shrubs. The berries are soft and are taken readily by thrushes, and bullfinches will work through the buds in spring. Give it room, as it suckers gently and will form a thicket if left to its own devices, which is exactly what nesting birds want.

Other Berries Worth Planting

Once you start, it is hard to stop. These all earn their place in a wildlife garden:

• Hawthorn – the backbone of the countryside hedge, with haws that feed redwings and fieldfares.
• Blackthorn – sloes are ignored until hard frost softens them, then eaten by fieldfares and thrushes.
• Spindle – startling pink-orange autumn fruits and superb autumn colour.
• Ivy – a late developer. Its black berries ripen in late winter and are prized by blackcaps and thrushes.
• Dog rose and honeysuckle – hips and berries for smaller birds, plus cover for nests.

Planting Now for a Wildlife-Rich Garden

Bare-root plants are the practical choice for autumn and winter planting, from November to March while the ground is open and not frozen. They are cheaper, establish faster and are available in far more native varieties than container-grown stock.

• Soak the roots for an hour before planting, then set the plant at the same depth it was grown.
• Firm the soil well, water generously and mulch with a generous layer of bark or leafmould, keeping it clear of the stem.
• Space shrubs a metre or two apart if you want a thicket; group three or five of one species for better pollination and a stronger visual hit.
• Water through the first two summers. After that, most native berries look after themselves.

Resist the urge to tidy up too thoroughly. Leave fallen fruit on the ground, do not net your shrubs, and cut hedges after the berries have gone. A garden with rowan, holly and guelder rose in it will look good for three seasons and be busy with wings for the fourth. Plant a few this autumn, and next winter the birds will do the rest.