Bird Table News

Start recycling by putting kitchen scraps out for our garden birds instead of throwing your food  in the dustbin.

Putting out bird food, especially in winter,  can be a life saver for some birds.

Here is some food I put out

• A lot of birds love fruit.  They will eat  scraps and cores of apples and pears.
• Put the last of the crumbs from the cereal box out for our feathered friends
• Cheese – not mouldy but old cheese or left over pieces. I cut mine into small pieces or grate the cheese before putting it out. Birds love this.
• Leftover plain flavoured rice
• Bread – I soak it in water first – any type of bread.
• Stale cake
• Suet
• Bacon rind (chopped small)
• Ham fat
• Pastry
• raw grated carrot (I have seen birds on the birdtable enjoy this)

Birds may not come to the food straight away, but they will soon learn to that food is there and check regularly.  You will get the enjoyment of seeing that you are feeding our feathered friends.

Of course you must throw away anything the birds don’t eat or it could attract vermin. 

You don’t need expensive bird tables or feeders – an old container with shallow sides can be used to put the kitchen scraps in.  

If you don’t have a garden – window feeders ?  

Or get together with other people who don’t have gardens to see if there is any space where scraps could be put and then take it in turns to put food out and check it’s been eaten (I know it’s a dream as there won’t be time, but a nice dream!)

Have you any scraps you put out?

Shall we recycle our scraps and feed the birds?

If you click the link below you will see why we should always cut or peel an apple if we put it out as bird food

VIDEO OF A SPARROW TRYING TO PEEL AN APPLE

Have a good day

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I often put kitchen scraps out for birds.  In these days of recycling it seems a good thing to do.

Bacon Rind for Birds

• Should be cut into small pieces
• Popular with nearly all birds
• Can also attract magpies, gulls and other larger birds

Fruit for Birds

• Cut and sliced apples can be put out any time of the year

• Apples, pears and grapes are all popular fruit

Cooked Rice for Birds

• Avoid putting out hightly flavoured rice
• Rics is a favourite of house sparrows and starlings

Cooked Potato for Birds

• Potatoes are high in protein
• If putting out jacket potatoes many birds will peck at the soft potato and leave the hard skin
• Cooked potatoe is popular with many birds

Dry cheese for birds

• Protein rich food for birds
• Can be a life saver for some birds in bad weather
• At the moment it seems to be one of the favourite foods on my bird table
• I always put out grated cheese

Cake for Birds

• Cake is a good filler food and I put out a lot of crumbs and stale cake.

Bread for Birds

• Best to soak bread in water first
• Is a good filler food

Carrots for birds

Last year and this year I have put out grated, raw carrot on the bird table.  It has always been eaten, but I don’t know which birds have eaten it.

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These are some of the kitchen scraps that birds will eat.

Have you anyspecial scraps you put out for birds?

• Popular with nearly all birds
• Can attract larger birds such as magpies, gulls

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This year I have put out grated cheese, raw carrot, bread,  bacon rind and old cake for my garden birds

I’ve just found out that dry cheese for birds is -

• Protein rich food for birds
• Can be a life saver for some birds in bad weather
• At the moment it seems to be one of the favourite foods on my bird tables.

Have you any special scraps you put out for birds.

Shall we all recycle our scraps and feed the birds.

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I sometimes recycle my kitchen scraps and put them out as birdfood instead of throwing them in the bin

• Stale cake,
• Suet,
• Bacon rind (chopped up small)
• Appple cores
• Ham fat

I’ve been baking and have a bit of pastry left over so I’ll add that to the list

• Pastry

I know there are a lot more scraps that can be fed to birds, but just can’t think at the moment.  Will add more later – please let me know what scraps you put out.

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 Thought I would start a list of kitchen scraps that can be put out to feed the birds.

Here’s  a basic list of food I sometimes put  out for the birds. 

Cheese:
Blackbirds, song thrushes, robins and dunnocks like cheese.
If you have the time grate some cheese, put it under a hedge or shrub – that will attract wrens. 
I’m putting out grated cheese at the moment and am getting loads of blackbirds and thrushes

Fruit:  
A lot of birds like fruit. I’ve  videod  a bird trying to eat an apple – it was amusing.
Birds like fresh apples and pears. Starlings, tits and thrushes  seem to enjoy rotten or bruised apples and pears.  

Bird cake, fat balls: These are very good in winter especially. It’s very convenient to buy them but they are easy to make as well.

• Melt some lard.
• Add oatmeal, cheese, seeds, nuts, dried fruit and even cheese.
• It needs to be one third fat and two thirds needs to be the mixture.
• Put it in a container to set.
  A bird-meal in minutes (well not quite).

Bread:
I was told that it’s best to soak bread in water before putting it on the bird table. I have also been told that it is not a very nutritional feed. But I find it gets eaten.
 

I’m trying to find more home made feed for the birds. Someone told me they put out grated carrots.  I did that a while ago and it got eaten for a while, then the grated carrots got left so I stopped.

Please let me know what scraps you put out for the birds.  I can add it to the list.  Cheers.

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