Now that the weather is getting colder we need to start helping garden birds. They struggle more in the winter months as the ground is hardened by frosts and it becomes more difficult for them to find food to eat. As we always enjoy watching the birds in our garden me and the children decided that we would make some simple bird feeders this weekend. It was pretty inexpensive, easy for the children to do and I also hoped that it would help to teach them about appreciating the natural world and understanding that we need to help and protect the animals around us.
You will need the following:
yoghurt posts - washed
twine or strong string
suet (I used Atora)
wild bird feed
Heat the suet over a medium heat until it melts and starts to liquefy - this takes a few minutes. Take the suet from the heat and pour in the wild bird seed - stir until all of the seed is covered in suet.
Now the next bit is very easy but actually took me three attempts to get right! The first time I put a hole in the bottom to put the twine through - Big Mistake! Obviously the liquid just came out of the hole and my kitchen table ended up covered in suet. The second time I poured the suet and seed mixture into the yoghurt pot straight away. Big Mistake! The suet was so hot that it melted the yoghurt pots and my kitchen table ended up covered in suet.
But from failure comes learning so what you actually need to do is to leave the suet mixture to cool down slightly before pouring it in - this is very important! Whilst the mixture is cooling place some of the twine into the yoghurt pot - leaving enough twine over the edge to make sure that you will be able to hang your bird feeder from the tree. Then pour in your mixture and press it down - making sure it covers the string. Then put your pots in the fridge to cool overnight and the next day press them out of the pot and they are ready to hang up on a tree or birdfeeder.
The birds will love them and its a great opportunity to encourage the children to do a bit of bird spotting when they flock to the feeders. You can get some great information on the different types of bird from the RSPB site and they also have this rather clever online bird identifier. to help you work out what the birds are!