Feed the birds!
Hi, it seems really important to support birds at this time, and more generally. I have fed them on and off over the years but now the advice is to do it all year around.
I wanted to share my bird pudding recipe with you. It creates a big mixing bowl. As the birds respond, the demand will increase. I start off with basic economic oats. This is about 75p for a packet and I use half. Into this I introduce some grated cheddar cheese, and then whatever I have got to hand, like a lidful or two of desiccated coconut - careful, not too much, as it swells in their stomach without water. I tip in things like sesame seeds, some grated almonds, any other nuts to hand. Into the mix, melt some Atora vegetable suet and stir it in. You want the oats to soak up this fuel. I then put it into a peanut feeder, and as the birds peck, they feed the ground feeders below. I have had wrens, robins, pigeons, flocks of starlings, blackbirds, magpies, and all kinds of tits. Unfortunately the lone parrot who turned up has too big a beak to peck out from the mesh feeder. Separately I have a plastic feeder and into this I put common bird seed (the contents do NOT match what is on the picture), some dried meal worm, some cheese again. It is a dryer mix. I am not completely sure of what I am doing, but it seems SO appreciated. Please do what you can. Today in the freezing snow, I mixed both types of feed on a tray on our garden table. I had to go to work, but Mike says there were flocks of birds on our garden table. PLEASE do what you can. Irene
I wanted to share my bird pudding recipe with you. It creates a big mixing bowl. As the birds respond, the demand will increase. I start off with basic economic oats. This is about 75p for a packet and I use half. Into this I introduce some grated cheddar cheese, and then whatever I have got to hand, like a lidful or two of desiccated coconut - careful, not too much, as it swells in their stomach without water. I tip in things like sesame seeds, some grated almonds, any other nuts to hand. Into the mix, melt some Atora vegetable suet and stir it in. You want the oats to soak up this fuel. I then put it into a peanut feeder, and as the birds peck, they feed the ground feeders below. I have had wrens, robins, pigeons, flocks of starlings, blackbirds, magpies, and all kinds of tits. Unfortunately the lone parrot who turned up has too big a beak to peck out from the mesh feeder. Separately I have a plastic feeder and into this I put common bird seed (the contents do NOT match what is on the picture), some dried meal worm, some cheese again. It is a dryer mix. I am not completely sure of what I am doing, but it seems SO appreciated. Please do what you can. Today in the freezing snow, I mixed both types of feed on a tray on our garden table. I had to go to work, but Mike says there were flocks of birds on our garden table. PLEASE do what you can. Irene
