| Feeding
your feathered friends |
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| Help
feathered friends survive the winter |
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Winter
is an exciting time for watching birds in your garden - find out how
to make a bird cake to help them survive the winter months. Also see
the RSPB seven point survival plan.
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Winter
is an exciting time for watching birds in your garden and what better
way to attract them than by making a bird cake to help them survive
the winter months.
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| A
robin in the snow |
As
temperatures fall below freezing in most parts of the country and
snow flurries are expected towards the end of the week, this is the
time when birds struggle the most.
Caroline Osborne from the RSPB said: "The winter months are a struggle
for many of our best-loved garden birds, such as robins and blue tits.
Just a little water, food and shelter can turn your garden into a
haven for birds in the freezing winter months!"
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| A
boy making a bird cake |
Have
a go at making a bird cake with our recipe. Better still - get the
kids to help and see how much fun you can have.
Ingredients:
Vegetable suet or Lard
Seeds
Nuts
Dried Fruits
Suitable container - coconut shell or clean yoghurt pot
String
Ideally you should mix 1 part of lard/veg suet to 2 parts of seeds/nuts/dried
fruit mixture.
You can just use seeds in the bird cake, but any extras are always
welcome.
Instructions:
1. Melt or soften suet
2. Pour onto the seeds/nuts/dried fruit and mix well
3. Drape the string into the container and pour in the mixture
4. Cool
5. Hang up with string
6. Enjoy watching your birds!
To see how the bird cakes our made, watch Julia Davies at the RSPB,
Sandwell Valley - click
here.
The RSPB has provided a simple seven-point plan to ensure our garden
birds win the battle against the cold winter months:
- Put up a bird table and use high calorie seed mixes. This could
include kitchen scraps such as animal fats, grated cheese and
soaked dried fruit.
- Put out hanging feeders for black sunflower seeds, sunflower
hearts, sunflower-rich mixes or unsalted peanuts.
- Ensure a supply of fresh water every day. If it is very cold
use tepid water but DO NOT use any antifreeze products.
- Supply apples and pears for blackbirds, song thrushes and other
members of the thrush family.
- Food bars or fat hung up or rubbed into the bark of trees is
a great help for treecreepers, goldcrest and many other species.
- Put up nest boxes to provide roost sites for the smaller birds.
They will then be used for breeding later in the year.
- Plant berry-bearing plants in your garden, such as hawthorn,
holly, cotoneaster and berberis.
If you want more details about feeding birds this winter you can
contact:
Colin Horne,
Centre Manager
RSPB
Sandwell Valley
20 Tanhouse Avenue
Great Barr
Birmingham B43 5AG
Telephone: 0121 357 7395
See RSPB's Time For Birds
campaign, and if you haven't got a garden, don't worry, check out
our info on Birmingham
parks and gardens.
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