Help The Birds
BIRDS NEED CAKE - BAKING FRIENDS LIKE YOU!
Feeding birds helps them to survive cold weather and gives you a chance to watch them up close. Starlings; house sparrows; blackbirds; blue and great tits; robins; greenfinches; collared doves; dunnocks; song thrushes and chaffinches may flock to your feeding station.
Bird cake ingredients and materials
• Block of lard
• Bag of wild bird seed mixture/unsalted peanuts/leftover food – moist bread, pastry, cheese, cooked potatoes, dried or bruised fruit.
• A selection of containers:
a) Large, fully open pine cones. Tie a length of string around the base of the cone, long enough to hang up
b) Washed and dried yoghurt pots with string threaded through a small hole in the bottom
c) A cake tin
d) Coconut shell halves with string threaded through to hang them up
e) A log with holes bored in it and holes for string to hang it up
Method:
1) Melt the block of lard in a pan over a gentle heat.
2) Once the lard has melted add a few handfuls of bird seed/unsalted peanuts/leftover food.
3) Make a wish while you stir the mixture.
4) Remove the pan from the heat.
5) Let the mixture cool slightly, but not set.
6) Then, depending on your choice of container;
a) Carefully dip each pine cone into the mixture and place on a tray to cool. Once cold, hang up on a bird table or tree.
b) Pour the mixture into the yoghurt pot. Once cold, push the cake out of the pot. Use the string to hang it up.
c) Pour the mixture into a cake tin. Once cold, cut the cake into chunks to put on a bird table or in a feeder.
d) Pour the mixture into empty coconut shells. Once cold, hang them up.
e) Push the mixture into holes drilled into a log. Once cold, hang it up or place in the garden.
You can also make cake balls.
Take a small handful of the mixture and roll into balls for placing on a bird table or in a feeder. Or, thread a piece of string through the middle of the ball before it sets to hang it up with.
FEED THE BIRDS ALL YEAR ROUND
Spring
A prolonged winter will delay the arrival of new growth and fresh supplies of naturally occurring food. This is the breeding season and birds will be making thousands of trips to feed their chicks. The provision of food will enable the parent birds to feed easily and so spend more time finding suitable food for their young.
Summer
Water may be in short supply and a birdbath may attract birds into the garden for a drink or a bath. An easily found feeding station will help young birds build up their energy while learning to fend for themselves.
Autumn
Bird populations are at their highest after the summer breeding season and when there is a plentiful supply of seeds and insects. Birds about to migrate will need a plentiful supply of food to build up their reserves for the journey ahead.
Winter
Natural supplies of food are running low and more energy is required to stay alive. Severe shortages may attract unusual visitors, such as waxwings and crossbills, into the garden.
For more information on feeding birds all year round, visit www.rspb.org.uk/feedthebirds
