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lucinda

I love cooking - especially baking cakes. But while I think a lot about making food for myself, I'm ashamed to say that I don't often think about making something for the birds that visit my garden.

But as I recently discovered, it's easy to make your birds a tasty treat. And as winter draws in, this is the perfect way to help birds cope with the cold weather.

What you'll need:

  • bird seed
  • raisins
  • grated cheese
  • suet or lard
  • yoghurt pots
  • string
  • mixing bowl
  • scissors

What to do:

  1. Make a hole in the bottom of your yoghurt pots. Thread some string throught the hole and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so you can tie the pot to a tree/your bird table.
  2. Warm the lard to room temperature, but don't melt it! Cut it into small pieces and place in the mixing bowl.
  3. Add the seed/raisins/cheese a handful at a time to the lard and squidge together with your fingertips. Keep adding the ingredients until the fat holds it all together.
  4. Fill your ready-prepared yoghurt pots with the mixture. Put them in the fridge to to set. This will take about an hour.
  5. Once set, you're ready to hang your birdcakes up around the garden.
  6. Sit back and watch the birds flock to your homemade birdcake.

If even that sounds like too much effort, birds also love kitchen scraps. From potatoes to fruit, take a look at what's good for your garden birds.

I would love to know if any of you've got your own birdcake recipes that you make. Let me know by leaving me a comment below.

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  • Hi both,

    look on this webpage: www.rspb.org.uk/.../birdcake.aspx for an instruction with pictures. Yes, the pots have to hang upside down...

    If you prefer a more natural look to old plastic pots in your garden:

    a quick receipt is mixing lard with table mix bird food or/and sunflower hearts and stuffing open fir cones or pine cones with the sticky mixture. You drill a screw in the top and fix a string on it to hang the cone on a branch.

    You can use logs and drill big holes in them as an alternative.

    We do this activity at Minsmere in Half Term and it's a lot of fun for the children.

    All the best,

    Monika

  • Hi both,

    look on this webpage: www.rspb.org.uk/.../birdcake.aspx for an instruction with pictures. Yes, the pots have to hang upside down...

    If you prefer an more natural look:

    an quicker receipt is mixing lard with table mix bird food or/and sunflower hearts and stuffing open fir cones or pine cones with the sticky mixture. We do this at Minsmere this Half Term and it's a lot of fun for the children.

    All the best,

    Monika

  • Hi, I'm assuming this is hung upside down to prevent rain from pooling in the pot?

  • Hi Lucinda.  I have been looking for recipes for a while, this looks good, but sorry to be dim!  I am trying to picture how it works! What sized pot do you recommend (we only use the 400gm size) At the moment I cant see how the birds will get at the food nearer the bottom of the pot once they have eaten the easily accessible bits?  As I say, sorry to be dim!