Birds play a vital part in our gardens. Well-fed birds associate our gardens with a source of food and will visit more often, foraging in the borders for tasty morsels and feeding on insect pests that might otherwise devour vegetables and flowers. As winter approaches it becomes more important to support them with supplementary feeding. Paul Stancliffe from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Garden BirdWatch Team says: “If the temperature drops below freezing, birds use up more energy just to keep warm. To replace that they need high-energy foods, and this is where gardeners can help. By putting out foods such as sunflower seeds and fat cakes they can make a difference.” (source: Daily Telegraph 8.2.2018)
With the ground frozen on Wednesday with the chill weather we were experiencing, our Junior Gardeners decided to help our feathered friends by creating some bird feeders to hang around the school and also take home and hang in their own gardens. We recycled plastic water bottles from EYFS, putting a perch through the bottom and feeder holes in the sides and then decorating them. We had great fun finding places to hang them where we would be able to watch them from our classrooms.
You can find full instructions for our feeders here: Bird feeder instructions They are easy to make, and we’d love to see pictures of your own feeders that you’ve made.
Brilliant, we have been feeding the birds in EYFS. It’s good to know the super young gardeners are helping them too.👏👏👏😊