Make a Bird Nest Building Buffet

Things have been extraordinarily stressful at Carrots Cottage this last week and a bit, but one of the most soothing things I’ve found is watching birds in the garden.

I stand at the kitchen window sipping coffee, thumbing through a very old copy of The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe. It’s old, priced at £1.75, but we got it in a charity shop.

There’s not as many feathered visitors as I’d like but we’ve had dunnocks, great tits, chaffinches and bullfinches as well as the usual robin, blue tits (currently building a nest in the box as they do every year), blackbirds, sparrows and the ever present pigeons who, I know, are just waiting for me to sow some peas.

Nest building is going on aplenty. Every time I see a bird in the garden they either have something in their mouths or are eating at a feeder.

So I thought I’d help them. We collected some moss, clipped the hairy dog and cut up some wool. I wondered how to make this tip top material available for the birds.

The garden’s currently in disarray thanks to a major patio building project so I wouldn’t have any where to place yoghurt pots or dishes of wool. Plus, they’d blow away. Oh, I know there are doubtless countless posts and tutorials on making such a thing but y’know, I couldn’t be bothered to look. Sometimes you just want to get on and do it your way.

So I fudged my own idea.

If you fancy having a go here’s what you need:

• a small piece of wood
• a drill
• hook for hanging it up
• nesting materials
• pieces of wood or nails for the birds to perch on

We (well, Hubby, I was deemed too accident prone) drilled holes all the way through the wood then the seven-year-old stuffed them. Our holes could have been bigger I reckon but they’re full of material.

I’ve hung it up near the most popular feeders but have yet to see a bird visiting their buffet. “It’s not like it’s been posted on Facebook love, the birds aren’t telling each other there’s a load of dog hair for nests at number xx,” commented Hubby.

Hmm, well I hope they’re not going to be fussy. This is prime nest building material here.

:: Today on Birdoosh I’m talking about Monday mornings and routines ::