A Robin waiting for Santa
When you are putting up your Christmas decorations this year, or writing letters to Santa, give a moment’s thought to the birds in your garden who may be finding it a little harder to get through the cold winter months.
On behalf of the birds, we’ve put together a list of ideas for Christmas gifts which we hope will help you add some Christmas cheer to your garden and keep your avian friends festively plump:
Give them edible outdoor Christmas decorations
With a few additions to a tree in your garden, you can provide a feast of decorations that the birds visiting you over the holidays will love.
Here are some easy suggestions to get you started:
1. Peanut butter pine cones: Fill some large pine cones with peanut butter, roll them in sunflower seeds or drop them in a bag of bird seed. Then tie red ribbon or wool around the top and hang them in a tree.
2. Sticky, nutty apples: Take an apple, cut out some slices and replace with peanut butter. Tie a string around the stem, dip the apple into a bag of bird seed, remove and suspend from the string in a tree.
3. Tasty baubles: You can also hang stale donuts or bagels from colourful ribbon or wool in your garden or do the same with suet balls, orange halves, or coconut halves.
4. Baked decorations: For something a little more intricate, cut shapes out of slices of bread with a cookie cutter. Use a skewer to make a hole in the top of the shapes you have cut. Next, liberally brush one side of the bread with egg whites and then cover with bird seed. Bake your decorations in the oven for 5 minutes at 150C. When done, leave to cool, thread ribbon or wool through the holes you have made and then hang them in the garden.
5. Edible Christmas garlands: Take a Christmas garland and add cranberries, stale popcorn, chunks of fresh coconut, crumbled cheese, chunks of roast potatoes, peanuts, and raisins and put up in the garden for the birds to enjoy.
Let them have your leftovers
Leftovers that have a high fat content or contain fruit are quite common at Christmas and also very beneficial to birds. Any of the following will be perfectly suitable to give to the birds in your garden:
* Mince pies
* Christmas cake.
* Christmas pudding.
* Roast potatoes (cut into small, peck-sized pieces).
* Cheese (grated or crumbled up).
Presents they will use everyday
As well as keeping them well fed, there are a few things that will keep your garden birds happy and content to visit your home all year round, which include:
* Bird houses
* Bird tables
* Nest boxes
* Bird feeders
