“It’s like magic dust as far as goldfinches and other small finches are concerned.

Sometimes it can take a little while to convince garden bird lovers that it’s worth taking the plunge with niger, but it’s well worth the minimal extra effort. It might seem a bit specialised, requiring its own feeders as the tiny seeds simply spill out of the larger feeding ports of regular seed feeders. But if you’ve got goldfinches or siskins in the area – or think you might have – niger seed will attract them like iron fillings to a magnet.”