Yes, birds can get very peckish, so why not help by setting up your own “all you can eat” snack bar? If you don’t have a handy tree from which to hang your gourmet delights, you can even make your own from some cut-off branches.
You will need: Cut-off branches, large plant pot, bricks or stones, soil or sand, garden wire, unsalted and unbuttered popcorn, apples, orange halves, lard, flour, oats and birdseed.
A large plant pot is a great place to house your fake tree. AS they don’t have roots to anchor them, you will need to wedge your branches between bricks or stones to stop them from flopping over. You can then fill around them with soil or sand, before adding some pretty stones to decorate around the base.
You can then make it look rather beautiful at the same time as laying out some tasty treats for the birds. Use unsalted and unbuttered popcorn threaded onto garden wire to make nibble rings. You can also add a loop to the end of some of the wire before threading on some sliced apples. And, unlike you, the birds won’t turn up their noses when the apple looks a bit brown (yeah, you might want to learn something from this).
For a really nutritious treat, get some old orange halves (just the empty peels) and thread them through some more wire to hang them from the tree. You can then use one part lard (at room temperature), squished with one part flour, two parts oats and one part bird seed to make the filling. The mixture can also be smeared and pressed into old pine cones which can then be hung from the branches with some twine. And don’t pull that face – I’m not asking you to eat it!
Tip: Birds come to rely on their regular snack bars, so make sure you keep yours topped up, especially from late autumn to spring when they need it most.
Source: 101 Things For Kids To Do Outside by Dawn Isaac.