Make Your Garden a Bird Friendly Haven

The Little Terra Guide to Making a Bird Feeder

The cheerful early morning sound of birdsong is one of the first signs that summer is on its way. But many of our most common garden birds like the song thrush and the house sparrow are in sharp decline.

There are many reasons given for the decrease in some of our most-loved feathered species, but sudden cold snaps like the one we had earlier this month can be very damaging to the availability of food during the important breeding season. Luckily, everyone can do something positive to help by making their garden a welcoming and safe haven. Providing lawns, flowers, trees, shrubs, wood piles and water features are all ways to nurture a growing bird population by providing a natural feeding habitat. You can also encourage birds in to your garden with a feeding station or bird feeder.

Carolyn Budding from children’s outdoor gear company Little Terra said:

“Feeding the birds in your garden is a wonderful way to introduce children to wildlife and will reward them with the opportunity to watch and observe the amazing behaviour of a wide variety of birds and even sometimes the chance to see something rare and exciting.”

It is not difficult or expensive to start your own bird feeding station. All you need to start you off is a large empty plastic drinks bottle with a cap, two willow sticks about 20-30cm long, a drawing pin and some string. Here’s the Little Terra Guide to making your own bird feeder.

Make Your Own Bird Feeder

1. Wash the bottle thoroughly and remove the label
2. To make the perches use the drawing pin to make two holes opposite each other near the bottom of the bottle and cut them in to small holes with a small pair of scissors.
3. Insert one stick so that it passes right through one hole through the bottle and out the other side. Repeat this process with the other stick to make another perch just above the first.
4. Now you’re ready to make the feeding holes. Use the drawing pin and scissors to make a small hole about 4cm above each perch – just make them about 7.5mm wide. Don’t make them too big or the seeds will just fall out!
5. To make the hanger simply make two holes either side of the bottle neck, thread the string through the holes and tie it together so that it can hang free wherever you are thinking of putting it.
6. Now’s the exciting bit; remove the cap and fill the bottle with a mixture of seeds. If small children are helping you may find a small household funnel will make the job a bit easier. At this time of year the best food to use is black sunflower seeds or look out for special summer seed mixes.
7. Now all you need to do is screw the cap back on and hang the bottle from a branch or hook outside. You can make up as many of these feeders as you like and not only do they help the local bird life, they also make an attractive addition to your garden.

For further inspiration on encouraging the children to look after wildlife and for a range of outdoor clothes and toys see www.littleterra.co.uk.