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Feeding birds in winter
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Winter is here again and many birds have headed south. The birds that stay here for winter often do so around towns and in our gardens. They have learned that in hard times they are more likely to find food there, than in the woods or fields. Feeding these birds not only helps them but will also be good for your garden. From early spring to late autumn your visiting birds will feed on all kinds of garden pests, snails, slugs and aphids, so they will actually help your garden to thrive. All the more reason to encourage them into the garden or onto your patio in winter too.
Banquets for birds
Use your imagination to create an appetizing and decorative meal for your feathered visitors, like seed cake, apple, millet sticks, suet cake, peanut chains and pinecone feeders. Making this food, and perhaps even a bird table to place it on, and then watching the birds feasting are great winter activities for adults as well as for children at a time when there is not much happening in the way of flora. Keep a bird book handy to look up the names of unusual birds.
A recipe for suet cakes
You'll need:
1 kilo of unsalted suet
A pan
750 grams of birdseed
Strong string
Moulds (like plastic coffee cups, yoghurt pots, tins)
Heat the suet until it is liquid. Stir the birdseed in. Cut the string into 30 cm lengths and place one end in each of the moulds. Pour the mixture into the moulds and leave to set. When set, hang the cakes in the garden where you can see them from the house, and out of reach of cats, or decorate your bird table with them. You could also hang the cakes up in mesh bags like citrus fruit nets.
A recipe for pinecone feeders
You'll need:
Large pinecones
Peanut butter
Birdseed
Twine
An oven dish
Put a layer of birdseed in the oven dish. Tie a piece of string around each pinecone, leaving it long enough to use to hang the pinecone up with later. Cover the entire pinecone in peanut butter. Roll the pinecone through the birdseed until it is completely covered in seed. Shake off the excess seed and hang the pinecone up in a safe place for the birds. Just outside the window is good!
A recipe for seed cake
You'll need:
A round, flat piece of oasis (the flower arranging base material)
1 kilo of unsalted suet
A pan
A knife
A large, flat dish
A mixture of seeds, such as birdseed, sunflower seed and peanuts
Melt the suet in the pan (don't let it get too hot). Cut a wedge out of the oasis and cover the sides and the top in suet. Push each side into the birdseed and decorate the top with other seeds. For a realistic effect, to make your seed cake look just like a real cake, put the wedge on a paper plate on the bird table or on your windowsill.
Making these feeders are great activities for gloomy Sundays or birthday parties (making sure that you give the kids bin-liner aprons to wear!). Depending on the number of the children you might have to double the ingredients.
More creative ideas
The birdfeeder-house
What you need are:
A clear plastic bottle (with cap left on)
Wire
An awl
Sharp scissors or a hobby knife
If children are going to help with this recipe, make sure that the sharp tools are properly controlled.
Pierce holes in the plastic bottle, just under the top on either side of the neck. Thread the wire through the holes and twist it round to create a hanger. Carefully cut a 5cm by 5cm square out of the bottle, on opposite sides, about 5cm up from the base. Fill the bottle up to these windows with birdseed. You can hang the finished feeder in a tree or on the washing line.
Birdtables
Ready-made bird tables are available nowadays in all shapes and sizes. However, consider making your own. It is easy and much more fun! Other simple feeding solutions are a large bowl on the windowsill, or just a place on the lawn. An area clear of snow can serve as a fine dining areas for birds. As long as the local cats are not around.
Tips
Only feed birds in winter. Give them small portions, preferably in the morning and late afternoon.
In sub-zero temperatures, regularly put out some water. Make sure birds can't bathe in it. When it has snowed birds don't need extra water.
Don't give birds margarine. It works as a laxative and is therefore unsuitable for birds.
Clean bird tables regularly to prevent the spread of disease.
Sow some Teasels in your garden. Not only are the dried flower heads very decorative, birds adore the seeds too.
Birds love berries, so shrubs with berries on the patio or in the garden are colourful bird attractions.
Put a little bell on the cat's collar and keep it indoors after you have just fed the birds.
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