Feed the birds
Feeding the birds is one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to give our feathered friends a hand, especially in winter when food is harder to find.
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This activity will help you make a bird food cake and a loo roll feeder. Hang them from your garden trees, or on your balcony and watch your neighbourhood birds discover them.
Wild birds are understandably timid at first, but especially in the depths of winter, these seedy treats won't last long.
Remember to take a photo of you making the cake or loo roll feeder, and maybe a photo or drawing of the birds who come for a meal.
Read how to keep your garden birds healthy for important information about cleaning feeders, bird tables and bird baths, to keep the birds that use them healthy.
Instructions
Stay safe
If you're allergic to nuts, leave out the peanuts and make sure your birdseed doesn’t contain any nuts. Be careful when using the scissors. Ask an adult to help if you need to.
Important notes:
Not suitable for children with nut allergies. Note that bird seed, including peanuts bought for birds, is not suitable for human consumption.
Did you know: the world's biggest bird feeder could hold 334.73 kg of seed and it needs a steel cable and heavy chain just to raise it up off the ground.
How to make a bird food cake
Making cakes for the birds is great, sticky fun and the mix of fat, seeds and mealworms is irresistible for many garden birds.
- Carefully make a small hole in the bottom of your mould or yoghurt pot. Thread string through the hole and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so that you can tie the pot to a tree or your bird table.
- If you’re using lard, allow the fat to warm up to room temperature, but don’t melt it. Then cut it up into small pieces and put it in the mixing bowl.
- Add the other ingredients to the bowl and mix them together with your fingertips. Keep adding the seed/raisin/cheese mixture and squidging it until the fat holds it all together. This bit can get quite sticky.
- Fill your yoghurt pots with bird cake mixture and put them in the fridge to set for an hour or so.
- Hang your speedy bird cakes from trees or your bird table. Watch for robins, tits, blackbirds and sparrows.
