January WEX - Big Garden Bird Watch

Hello again, it's time for our monthly blog from our WEX group. As per usual, Freddie has written some lovely words about what they did at their recent meeting. Thanks once again Freddie. :) 

WEX BLOG

This time at WEX we were making bird feeders because it is nearly time for the annual RSPB big garden bird watch! The big garden bird watch is a survey that anyone can get involved with of different species of garden birds around the UK. Each year the RSPB count up the results and find out which birds are making progress and which birds are having a tough time.

First of all, I started colouring in a picture of a pheasant and then we started making our feeders.

There were 3 different types of feeder to make. 

First was the apple feeder.

To make this feeder, take an apple and use a corer to punch out the middle. Then you push sunflower seeds into the apple to make a pattern or stick them in randomly. Finally, you get some twine and a small stick. Tie the twine around the stick and pull the string through the hole in the apple to make a hanger. Once you have finished put the core back in to keep the string in place. Here’s my apple feeder … as you can see mine says RSPB!

Secondly, we made a pine cone feeder. To do this you need a pine cone, some bird seeds, other fruits which the birds might like (we used currants) and lard. First tie some twine around your pine cone so that you can hang it up. Chop the lard into cubes and put it in a bowl along with the seeds and fruit then mix it up with your hands. The lard is very sticky and it is very greasy so I would advise you to put on some gloves to do the mixing! Once you have made your mixture then you can stuff it into the gaps around your pine cone.

Pine and spruce cones are best because they have bigger gaps. A cedar cone wouldn’t work because they don’t have any gaps at all! Once you have covered your pinecone you can hang it up.

Thirdly we made a coconut feeder which is probably the simplest one to make. We used the same mixture used for the pinecones to stuff the coconut shell.

After making the feeders we headed out onto the reserve to see what birds we could spot. We headed down to the tree sparrow farm where we saw lots of garden birds including: Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Tree sparrow, Chaffinch, Robin, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Bullfinch and Magpie. We also saw some non-garden birds including: Moorhen, Mallards and Pheasants.

I’ll be taking part in the Big Garden Bird watch at my house and I hope you will too.

Nicola here again. Another good read there with some top tips for making your own bird feeders. Thanks Freddie!

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