Decorative Birdfeeding

Volunteer Kim got creative and made a festive bird feeder before Christmas- a great idea and one you could adapt for different seasons. Here’s how she did it.

I’d seen an outdoor Christmas Tree for birds a couple years ago and been inclined to try it myself since then. I made garlands out of dried orange and apple slices held together with garden twine. For a bit of contrast, I threaded popcorn and dried cranberries onto cotton thread. I had to pop the corn at home as all the store bought stuff is coated in salt or sugar. But I used a glass topped pot and had great fun doing it. Some easy baubles that I didn’t get around to making is simply smearing pinecones with peanut butter. I also wanted to use solar lights but read that outdoor lighting in the garden can cause confusion for wildlife so held off on that. I did however attempt to make birdseed baubles.

packets of dried apple slices, dried orange slices pop corn and cranberries. There are spools of cotton and twine. — Garland ingredients

Packets of Birdseed, leaf Gelatine, Plain Flour and golden syrup and a box of Christmas themed decorative cookie cutters — Garland ingredients

I used this recipe (https://spadeforkspoon.com/2014/01/14/feed-the-birds/) from the website ‘Spade Fork Spoon’. I halved the quantities, so it ended up roughly being:

1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup warm water
2 leaves of gelatin
1^1/2 tbsp. golden syrup
2 cups birdseed
Muffin tin or other mould
dash of oil
drinking straws (I used chopsticks)
baking parchment
string/twine

It’s best to prepare everything in advance as the birdseed mix starts to harden quite quickly. So, I used a pastry brush to apply olive oil to the inside of the miniature Christmas cookie cutters. I put them on a little tray lined with parchment paper. With this done I turned my attention to the ingredients. I mixed the flour with the birdseed in a bowl. Somewhere in the back of my mind was an insistence on mixing dry ingredients together before adding the wet ones. After melting the gelatine according to the packet instructions, I mixed the golden syrup in with the liquid. This was then poured over the birdseed and flour mixture and stirred with a spoon until it was all incorporated.

cookie cutters on greasproof paper beside a glass mixing bowl containing the mixed ingredients for the birdseed baubles — bird food mix and cookie cutter shapes

An icecube tray half filled with birdseed mix with a loop of twine emerging from the mix. — bird food mix and cookie cutter shapes

I then attempted to squish the mixture into the little cookie cutters at which point I started lamenting my decision to use miniature versions. I had thought the resulting ornaments would be less likely to fall off my tree’s somewhat weak branches but in actual fact it was just very difficult to squash the mixture into them. I was using a teaspoon, but it got all over my hands anyway and wouldn’t let go. I recommend having a bowl of warm water to dip your fingers in and keep them clear of debris. I prodded a chopstick into each shape hopefully leaving a hole in which to thread twine through.

solidified baubles with twine hanging loops — Bird food baubles

one row of popcorn and cranberry garland above an alternately threaded dried disks of orange and apple garland. — Bird food baubles

After filling all the shapes, I still had a lot of mixture left. Casting about the kitchen, my gaze landed on an ice cube tray with helpful pop out bottoms. I quickly oiled the tray. After filling halfway up one cube I squashed the ends of a loop of twine into the mixture and continued to fill. All these creations were then left overnight to harden. In the morning the ice cube ones came out easily and seemed more robust. Probably due to the ease of squishing down the mixture properly into a larger space. Releasing the small cookie cutter ones was a lesson in patience and disappointment. Unfortunately, the teddy shape didn’t make it. But the rest of them did, to varying degrees.