Winter is the best time to feed the birds. Here are a few ideas of how you can construct your own simple feeders to hang on a tree near your window. Then watch the fun as your feathered friends come to feast!

Pine cone feeder:
Wind string or a thin wire around the top of a large pinecone so it will hang. Then spread a thin layer of suet, lard, or peanut butter on the cone and roll it in wild bird seed. Sunflower seeds are a favourite with finches and grosbeaks. Or, if you find it easier, mix the birdseed and some breadcrumbs into the fat in a dish and apply it to the pinecone with a knife.

Moulded suet:
Melt about 1 cup of bacon fat or beef suet.
Before it sets, stir in: corn meal
    breadcrumbs
    birdseed
    nut meats or shelled peanuts
    grated apple or sultanas/raisins 
 
Pour mixture into a yoghurt cup or other mould and place in the refrigerator to harden. Insert a drinking straw in the centre so that when it sets you’ll have a hole to thread a string through for hanging. When suet hardens, remove from mould by placing it very briefly in warm water. You can also put the moulded suet into a net bag for hanging, if you have one.

If you have a large apple, cut the top off, hollow it out and fill it with bird seed. You’ll need a needle and heavy thread to add four strings by which to hang it.

Woodpeckers, blue-tits, and nuthatches will enjoy bits of fat trimmed off meat or pan drippings stuffed into a mesh or net bag.