Make your own
Cheap
and much appreciated winter bird food. You could pay a few £££'s
more for ready made "suet balls" or the like, but I make my own and
it takes hardly any time at all.
You will need:
A slab of dripping - this one cost 65p me at the supermarket
for 500g (just over 1lb)
Something to mix in with the dripping, you could use
nuts or seeds bought in bags for birds, or something like porridge oats
will do fine, this 1kg bag cost me 99p. |
Place the dripping
into a saucepan
and melt on a gentle heat, try not to wander off and forget it! When it's
all liquid add the porridge until it's almost all submerged beneath
the liquid fat, it soaks up a lot more than you'd expect (about 1/3th
of a 1kg bag of porridge oats per 500g of dripping).
You can add
all sorts of stuff to the dripping, plain flour is surprisingly popular
with the birds if you have nothing else.
Seeds or nuts sold in
bags specifically for birds could be added, dried fruit, cake, biscuits
etc.
Some left over chilli we had
went down very well (birds can't taste chilli apparently). |
Pour
into a container of some kind and leave to solidify.
I use a container
that once had a Chinese takeaway in. Put it in the fridge or somewhere cold
for a few hours or overnight. |
Remove
from the container and chop into chunks 1/2" to 1" in each direction.
Place on newly made bird table.
I usually place some on the ground too as some species like foraging at
ground level (but then again so do dogs, so not a good idea if you have
one). You can also add some chunks or slabs to hanging bird feeders. |