Make a tasty treat that’ll bring the garden birds flocking
Now if you’re anything like me then you’ll also be slightly obsessed with something very specific in your garden, and no – it’s not plants this time! Whenever I’m out there, among the plants, I’m always conscious of the wildlife around me, and what our garden is doing for them as much as it is for me and my family. We’re all more aware of the role pollinators play in our gardens, but we must also consider how we can support the wider habitat for birds too.
My young daughters love nothing more than feeding the birds and putting out all sorts of treats for them, all year round. You can get all manner of feeds and feeders from garden centres, pet shops and more, and we do buy them, but how much fun is it to make your own from scratch from time to time! So, this issue, I’m sharing our favourite way to give the birds a nutritious and tasty snack using a coconut and a few other simple materials.
Step 1
Start preparing your coconut. On one end you’ll find three ‘eyes’ that are the softer part of the outer shell, that you can drill into or tap at lightly with a hammer and small screwdriver.
Step 2
Once the ‘eyes’ are breached, drain the inner liquid. You may think this is coconut milk, when in fact it is coconut water – the milk is made from grinding up the inner ‘flesh’ into a milky substance.
Step 3
Crack open your coconut by using firm but gentle strikes with a hammer until you start to see signs of cracking. The aim is to get as clean a break as possible, right the way round the centre of the coconut.
Step 4
Once your coconut is open and in two pieces, simply cut away the white inside until you’ve just got the shell left. Keep the delicious white flesh to eat or save it to use in cooking or baking.
Step 5
Thread a piece of string through the hole you previously made to extract the water. This is how you’ll hang your bird feeder up in your garden, so make the string long enough for where you’ll be placing it.
Step 6
Melt enough lard to fill the coconut shell in a saucepan.
Step 7
Carefully pour a shallow layer of lard into your shell and add seeds and mealworms and allow it to dry. Repeat this process and create as many layers as you can to fill the shell, then put it aside to set firm.
Step 8
Hang your feeder up in a place that birds like then sit back and enjoy the pleasure of watching them excitable fly to your specially handcrafted bird feeder!
Find more tips, advice and articles like this at the Amateur Gardening website. Subscribe to Amateur Gardening magazine now
