A little robin, eating his breakfast of bird seed in Mrs Buchanan’s garden this morning!
It is still very cold outside and lots of the ground is frozen. Children at Charles Dickens Primary School have been feeding the birds in the school garden, spurred on by our participation in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch. During half term, remember to feed the birds in your garden, your balcony or your window sills. You can put out bird seed or you could try to make them this delicious (according to the birds) cake!
Feeding the birds at home – the speedy bird cake
Make this quick and easy cake to keep the birds happy.
Stuff you need : Good quality bird seed ( you can buy this from the super market); raisins; peanuts; grated cheese; suet or lard; yoghurt pots; string; mixing bowl; scissors
Important notes : Not suitable for children with nut allergies.
Steps
1. Carefully make a small hole in the bottom of a yoghurt pot. Thread string through the hole and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so that you can tie the pot to a tree or your bird table.
2. Allow the lard to warm up to room temperature, but don’t melt it. Then cut it up into small pieces and put it in the mixing bowl.
3. Add the other ingredients to the bowl and mix them together with your finger tips. Keep adding the seed/raisin/cheese mixture and squidging it until the fat holds it all together.
4. Fill your yoghurt pots with bird cake mixture and put them in the fridge to set for an hour or so.
5. Hang your speedy bird cakes from trees or your bird table or from your window. Watch for robins, blackbirds, greenfinches and tits.
Hi Teachers and children of Dickens Primary School
I like your article about feeding the birds at this time of the year.!
Its very important to protect birds especially the rare ones and especially those that fly here from the Arctic every year in winter to find shelter and food. If we do not look after them we may loose them forever.
Charles Dickens who your school is named after had a strong connection to Medway and particularly Rochester. He also had a strong connection with the marshes that lie to the North of Medway, they are called the North Kent Marshes. Dickens wrote a now famous book based around the North kent Marshes called “Great Expectations”. The open words of the book describe those marshes:
“Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip.”
The Marshes are just the same today as they were in the times of Charles Dickens but just like the rare birds they may be under threat of extinction.
The Government may want to build an Airport on the Marshes because they say it would bring jobs and prosperity to Medway. Do you think that it is a good idea to build an airport on the Marshes?
George
Friends of the North Kent Marshes
Thank you George for this – we wish you well with your campaign.
thanks !!
Thank you for the Feeding the Birfds item . Very helpful in this icy weather
regards Eileen Baldwin
Thank you Eileen for your support and for understanding that we try to keep the focus on the school and the local community. Best Wishes.
This is wonderful and helpful for anyone who plans to start feeding the birds in their area. Without a shred of doubt, bird watching and bird feeding are great experiences, and it provides an inexplicable joy once you see the birds appreciate what you have prepared for them.