Best time to put down grass seed?

[navaho]

Some of our field has had parts trashed over the winter, im sure im not alone in this, so weve bought some grass seed to put down in the areas that have been worst affected. I was just wondering what is the ideal weather to put it down? Its dry here at the moment but we are due rain on Monday, so wondering whether it would be best to put it down Sunday so it gets watered Monday....as you can tell ive never done this before lol. Also worried about it getting eaten by birds, or isnt this very likely?
Should just add we are reseeding by hand, not sure if this will have any bearing on it.

Huge thanks for any advice.

 

[L&M]

April/May time and sept/oct tend to be the optimum time.

I think you will still be fine doing it now as has only just started to get warm enough for the seed to germinate, but there is still moisture in the ground.

If you can either rake or harrow the areas for reseeding prior to putting it down, and ideally roll after.

You may loose a little to birds so put plenty down, and always buy more than you anticipate, as I never seem to have enough!!