Windmill - It's for the Birds!

We've been having a lot of fun at Windmill during the last few weeks, setting up a variety of bird-friendly features. Whilst birds can be a problem we like to encourage them - not least because they will seek out over-wintering caterpillars and grubs far better than we can - we're not just into them because they're cute, you know!

We've already got a great range of things which we know the birds enjoy - our hedges, our dead hedges (piled cut branches that provide cover and nesting sites), our teapot-nesting box, our robin box and our blue-tit box, as well as the big feeder in the orchard and a variety of seed-bearing flowers that we grow. And we mustn't forget the pot-store, which the robin always prefers to any other nest site...!!

That's a long list, but there's always room for improvement, so we were delighted when the lovely people from Nature in Mind visited a few weeks ago with a very keen bird-watcher in tow. He gave us lots of tips as we made up a variety of bird boxes. He suggested that the robin box should be moved to somewhere a bit more secluded, and that some sparrow boxes would be good, as well as a nesting shelf for a blackbird. We've done all that now, so hopefully the birds will be eyeing up the new des-res's. Nature in Mind folk also took away some boxes, promising to put them up, so we've hopefully spread the love all over Nottingham!

Nature in Mind show off some of their bird boxes.

In the meantime, our Monday group have been having a bit of fun with an idea we pinched off Winter Watch on the BBC. We've used old cups and an old toast rack to make a rather fancy bird feeder. We hope you like it! We'll let you know if the birds like it too.

Lard & seeds used to make bird-cake teacups
+ lard-soaked bread in the toast rack

Danny shows off the ingenious finished contraption