The most famous nanny in the world, Mary Poppins, had the right idea when it came to feeding the birds. Watching birds come to a garden feeder, or feeding the ducks in the park, is usually one of the highlights of a small child's day.
The children will enjoy it even more at this time of year if you tell them how much they are helping their feathered friends. Cold winter weather is particularly difficult for small birds, such as tits, because they need to feed almost constantly during daylight hours to survive the even lower temperatures during the night.
Different types of food attract different bird species, so try offering a variety of seeds, nuts and scraps. Be imaginative in the presentation - some birds like to eat on the ground, others on a bird table, others clinging to a bird feeder. Ground or table feeders attract robins, dunnocks, doves, and thrushes; hanging feeders attract tits, woodpeckers and greenfinches. Did you know they even have preferences for the colours of bird feeders? Trials have been done to see what colours attract which birds, and at which times. It seems that light blue is preferred in the summer, and silver in the winter. Goldfinches are attracted to green feeders, and siskins to red. In any case, keep them stocked up and the birds will become regular customers.
Ready-made wild bird food, sunflower seeds, millet, and unsalted peanuts can be bought from pet shops or specialist suppliers. But there is no need to go to a lot of expense; just look around the kitchen. Left-over sandwich crusts, bacon rinds, breakfast cereals, potatoes, fruitcake, and other scraps can all be fed to the birds. And if you are going for a walk in the park or countryside, take a basket with you to collect acorns, conkers, sweet chestnuts, beech masts, and pine cones.
If you are using peanuts, first make sure they are both safe for the children to handle, and safe for the birds to eat. Some nuts have been found to contain high levels of fungal aflatoxin, which can be fatal to small birds. When you consider that a bluetit may eat up to 30 per cent of its body weight in peanuts every day in the winter, it would be easy for them to be poisoned. Check with the supplier as to whether nuts you are buying are aflatoxin-free.
Birds enjoy many foods, including cooked rice, grated cheese, eggs, bones with some meat or fat still attached, dried fruit, fresh coconut, apples, even cat and dog food. Animal fats are packed with energy, and are especially useful in winter, so they are an excellent food, particularly when they contain tasty morsels. Soaked bread is more easily ingested than dry bread. Avoid desiccated coconut, which can swell up inside the bird, as well as spicy, strongly flavoured and salted food. Whole peanuts should never be offered loose, particularly in the spring when the young nestlings may choke on them.
Remember that many of these foods can also attract unexpected visitors, such as squirrels, mice, and even passing cats or dogs. The children might enjoy seeing them, but if you don't want them, don't leave out too much food at once, and place it out of reach of anything but birds.
Birds should be fed the whole year round, although they need it more in the winter when the earth is frozen and their natural food supply reduced.
Water is a necessity for all birds, both for drinking and bathing. Birds need to bathe regularly, particularly in very hot or cold weather, to keep their feathers in pristine condition to provide insulation. If you place a bird bath close enough to a window the children will enjoy watching their bathtime antics.
Even homes without a garden can enjoy a bird feeder, as some can be attached to a window with suckers or hung just outside. Once the birds have got used to the idea of an audience they will not be unduly disturbed by quiet indoor onlookers, although they will feel much happier if there is cover for them to hide in close by.
The children will get more enjoyment from the birds if they are actively involved in the food preparation - and, of course, this is cheaper than buying it ready-made. Just take care, as always, that the children do not try to eat the food themselves, or stick small pieces into their ears and noses!
Peanut necklace
Help the children to thread peanuts in their shells on a thick thread using a tapestry needle. Tie the two ends together and hang it on the branches of a tree. The children will love to see the antics of the great tits clinging to the nuts, swinging around in the breeze, and cracking open the shells to get inside.
Bird pudding
On a cold and frosty morning, when you make porridge for breakfast, cook a little extra thick mixture for the birds. This is a wonderfully sloppy activity beloved by messy children. Mix in any breakfast scraps of crumbled toast crusts and bacon rinds, and throw in a few nuts and sultanas. Pack it into a greased bowl and let it set. If you turn it out on the bird table on a frosty day it will freeze hard and last longer, as the birds have to peck at it instead of gobbling it up quickly.
Golden rings
Look out for breakfast cereals in the shape of little rings. Provide a piece of string with a ring tied on one end, and the other stiffened previously with a coating of nail varnish. Young children will develop their manipulative skills by threading the cereal rings for the birds to eat. Tie the ends together and hang in a tree.
Rind danglers
Collect the cut-off bacon rinds and, using string, tie tightly in bunches to dangle in the breeze from a bush or tree.
Bags of fun
Some washing machine detergent comes in tablet form to be placed in a net bag in with the washing. Save these and fill them with mixed wild bird food to hang in front of a window. Bluetits will cling and swing to work the seeds through the little holes.
Alternatively, save the plastic net bags that some fruit and vegetables come in. Fill them with unsalted peanuts and tie up tightly. Hang from the bird table or nearby branches.
Pass the popcorn
Have you had a session of popcorn making and found some left over? Older children will be able to thread the larger pieces using a darning needle and thread. Smaller pieces, or bits that break off, can be tied in a bag or mixed in the bird pudding.
Crunchy cones
Tie a string around a fir cone before covering it in lard, pushing the fat into all the crevices. Spread millet seed on a plate and roll the cone in it until it is coated with seed. Hang on a bush.
Bird cake
Mix together, in any combination, seeds, oatmeal, stale cake crumbs, nuts, dried fruit, cooked rice or pasta, and sunflower seeds. Chopped acorns, conkers, and sweet chestnuts can be added to this mix. Tap the dry ingredients into a foil dish or half a coconut shell and pour over melted suet or the dripping from the roast joint, in a ratio of about one-third fat to two-thirds seed mixture. The fat will be very hot, so handle with great care. Put it in a cool place until it has set, preferably in the fridge, and then place on the bird table.
FAVOURITE FOODS
* Greenfinches sunflower seeds
* Thrushes, wrens bird cake and pudding
* Dunnocks, finches millet
* Blackbirdsflaked maize
* House sparrow moist bread and cake crumbs
* Greater spotted woodpeckerbacon rind
* Tits peanuts
* Chaffinchwild bird seed
* Doves, pigeonswheat and barley
* Starlings apples
* Robinsgrated cheese
Suitable kitchen leftovers
* Cooked rice
* crumbled, moistened stale cake
* potatoes - boiled, mashed, roast, cut open, jacket potatoes
* fresh coconut
* grated cheese
* dried fruit such as sultanas and raisins
* apples
* crumbled, moistened brown and white bread
* chopped bacon rind
* meat fat, including suet
* leftover pastry
* porridge oats and oatmeal
* fatty bones
* soft fruit
