In this cold snap, I have been putting out extra food for the garden birds: mostly dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, chaffinches and tits.
They have porridge oats and raisins, plus peanuts and sunflower kernels in feeders, every morning; and if it's very cold like today, a second helping of oats at dusk.
'My' two cock pheasants have poultry corn - in fact, if they see me through the futility room window, they come running over and stand just under the window, heads cocked. They know I'll give in and throw out some more corn for them!
Yesterday, I made two fat feeders out of small tinned-tomato cans. I punched a hole in the bottom to tie on a string, then melted some of the dripping and stirred in lots of oats to make a sort of fat flapjack. Pressed into the tins and left to cool, it makes a good feeder to hang in the branches. The tits can hang upside down, and the other birds can perch underneath to get at the contents.
More high-calorie fuel for the birds, and a way to recycle the fat without clogging the drains or making a mess in the bin. Excellent! The only drawback was the 15 minutes it took to clean up the worktops and wash the ghastly remains from the pyrex jug I made the mixture in. Oh well...
18/12/07 @ 18:08