Why Feed the Birds — and Why Recycled Materials Make Sense

Feeding garden birds is one of the simplest pleasures a household can share, and it costs almost nothing if you look in the right cupboard. A well-sited feeder brings blue tits, great tits, robins, chaffinches, goldfinches and the occasional greater spotted woodpecker to within a few feet of the kitchen window. For children, it turns a patch of grass into a living classroom.

You do not need to buy anything. A plastic drinks bottle, a yoghurt pot, a milk carton or a pine cone from beneath a conifer will all do the job. Reusing what you already have is thrifty, but it also teaches a quietly important lesson: useful things can be made from materials we might otherwise throw away.

Late autumn and winter are the hungriest months in the garden calendar. Berries on hawthorn and rowan are stripped by December, insects hide deep in bark, and hard frost can make the ground impossible to probe. A simple feeder bridges that gap.

What You Will Need

Gather everything before you begin, and pick a dry day when small hands are not too cold to enjoy the making.

• A clean, dry plastic bottle — a 1.5 or 2 litre drinks bottle is ideal — or a plastic milk carton
• Strong garden twine or thin rope
• Scissors and a sharp craft knife or bradawl, for adult use only
• A wooden spoon, a short length of dowel or a sturdy stick for a perch
• Bird food: sunflower hearts, nyjer seed or a good quality mixed seed
• Optional: a pine cone, a yoghurt pot, lard or suet, and a handful of unsalted peanuts

Wash and rinse every container and let it dry completely. Traces of juice or milk can spoil the food and harm birds, so this step is worth doing properly.

Making the Classic Bottle Feeder

This is the design most children remember, and it works beautifully for seed.

• Peel off the label and rinse away any sticky residue.
• Ask an adult to pierce two holes opposite each other, about three centimetres up from the base. Push a dowel or spoon handle through so it juts out on both sides — this is the perch.
• Make a small feeding hole above each end of the perch, roughly two centimetres across. Tilt the bottle and seed trickles onto the perch.
• Prick three or four tiny drainage holes in the base so rain escapes and seed does not turn mouldy.
• Tie twine tightly around the neck, knot it securely, and make a loop for hanging.
• Fill the bottle two-thirds full, replace the cap, and hang it up.

Hang it from a branch of a native tree — hazel, birch, rowan and field maple all take a loop of twine kindly — or from a bracket on a shed or fence post.

Fat Cakes, Pine Cones and Yoghurt Pots

For a richer winter treat, fat-based feeders are hard to beat. They give birds the energy they need on the coldest mornings.

• Pine cone feeder: tie twine around the base, mix lard with seeds and a little grated cheese, press it deep into the scales, chill until firm and hang.
• Yoghurt pot feeder: pierce two holes near the rim, thread twine through and knot it, then fill with seed and hang upside down. The lid keeps rain out.
• Log feeder: drill a few wide holes into a dry log, pack them with the fat and seed mixture, and hang the log horizontally.

Never use cooking fat, oil or margarine — it smears feathers and ruins their insulation. Lard or suet is much safer. Avoid bread and milk too, which fill birds up without proper nourishment.

Siting, Hygiene and Keeping Birds Safe

Where you hang the feeder matters as much as what is in it.

• Position it either within one metre of a window or more than three metres away. The middle distance is where collisions happen.
• Choose a spot sheltered from the prevailing wind, so seed stays dry and birds are not blown about while feeding.
• Keep it clear of low shrubs where cats can lurk, and well above a jumping cat's reach.
• Clean feeders every two weeks with warm soapy water, rinse well and let them dry before refilling. This helps prevent disease.
• Move the feeder occasionally so droppings and husks do not build up in one place.

Fresh water matters just as much as food. A shallow dish, refreshed daily and kept ice-free in winter, will be used for drinking and bathing all year round.

Nature Notes Through the Year

Once the feeder is up, the real pleasure is watching. Keep a simple chart on the fridge and let children record the first visitor and the busiest hour.

• October to February: hunger brings the largest flocks. Watch for mixed parties of tits, goldfinches on nyjer, and redwings and fieldfares arriving to strip the last berries.
• March to May: adults carry seeds away for hungry nestlings. Sunflower hearts are especially useful now because they are soft and easy to swallow.
• June to August: natural food is plentiful, so feeding slows. Keep water topped up and let the feeder rest.
• September: young birds explore clumsily, and berries on rowan, hawthorn and guelder rose begin to colour. A good month to plant a native tree for future winters.

A feeder in a garden with native trees is more than a kindness. A hazel, a birch or a rowan brings insects, shelter and nesting sites, and the birds drawn to the feeder will soon be hunting among its branches. Make it together, hang it where you can see it, and let the garden do the rest.