Post originally published Jan 11, 2010
This cold weather is particularly brutal on wild birds, who will have real trouble finding anything to eat. They depend on finding scraps at this time of year, as there are very few insects or berries around, and the snow coverage makes that very difficult. There are a few ways that you can help – if you have a garden or a balcony or even a windowbox, put out some bird food and a saucer of water.
Lidl does very cheap bird seed, but if you don’t fancy braving it to the supermarket, you can do a lot with scraps and leftovers from around your house.
I remember my mother using leftover chip fat to make bird food when we were kids…I don’t have a deep fat fryer myself but made a cake for the birds by melting some sunflower oil and mixing in some random stuff from my kitchen. You can use:
- Sesame seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Raw nuts (peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and brazil nuts)
- Raisins and other dried fruit
- Crushed crackers
I put it all into an old takeaway container and left it in the garden. BirdWatch Ireland have more advice on feeding birds – you can use many household leftovers such as bacon rinds and melon seeds, and be sure to keep any leftover fat from cooking meat. They warn against using dessicated coconut, dry bread or uncooked rice as these can all expand in the birds’ stomachs. Finally, if you own cats, try to keep them indoors as much as possible. We know you love them, but face it, they’re heartless killing machines.