The youngest two were standing by the door in full snow kit by 7 this morning. Just shows what's possible when they're keen! And they were so excited; jiggling up and down with anticipation, thinking snow balls, sledging and NO school.
I was thinking snowed in, husband away...and no school. What an old misery.
But I had a plan for my three almost eager little helpers - once they'd had their fill of snow.
I've been meaning to make bird feeders for ages. We used to have a bird table, but it slowly rotted away, and we haven't replaced it because of the cat. There are other ways: higher, hopefully safer ways, and feeders seem to be a better option with a cat prowling about. Nothing's going to be perfect, still it's got to be worth the risk in this kind of weather.
All you'll need is an empty plastic bottle, some string, a few sticks, scissors (I found small, sharp nail scissors were best) and bird food.
Make two small holes opposite each other near the bottom of the bottle, and push a stick through to make a perch. Repeat this, so the second stick goes in slightly above the first.
Next cut a small hole (no more than 3/4cm wide - too big and the seeds will fall out) about 4cm above each perch. I found the best way to do this is to pierce the bottle with the scissors, and then twist a stick around in the hole, until it's the right size.
Poke a hole either side of the bottleneck, and thread some string through (a longish darning needle helped with this bit) and tie the ends together.
Take the cap off and use a funnel to fill the bottle.
I did a little googling to find out where cat owners put their bird feeders. Top tips seem to be washing lines, weak branches and generally making the area under or around them less cat conducive with the odd prickly plant. So we put one on a line between the apple trees, and the other on a high, spindly branch above a holly bush.
The birds were a little tentative to begin with....
...but it wasn't long before we had our first taker!
