What you spot, record and report enables the RSPB to analyse trends and help effectively protect the UK’s birdlife. Sadly, the UK has lost 38 million birds from its skies in the last 50 years; the RSPB is doing everything it can to reverse this and you can help…

How do you take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch?

Firstly sign up (it takes about a minute) and the RSPB will send you everything you need including your free Big Garden Birdwatch guide. You can opt to have resources posted to you or download for even more environmental brownie points.

Then just choose one hour between Friday, 27th January and Sunday, 29th January to spot your birds. If you don’t have a garden don’t worry, you can choose an area in your local park, green space or even street.

Three simple steps

1. Watch the birds around you for one hour

2. Tally how many of each species of bird lands on your patch. Just record the highest number of each species you see at any one time so you don’t risk counting the same bird twice.

3. Go online and tell the RSPB what you saw: rspb.org.uk

What we’ve done to prepare for our birdwatch

We’ve stocked up on a variety of bird food, which includes fat balls, a seed mix with mealworms (particularly attractive for robins and blackbirds), wild seed mix and nuts, which are popular for great tits, blue tits, woodpeckers, jays etc. Birds are very appreciative of kitchen scraps. These are a very cost-effective way of attracting and feeding them.

We have a couple of hanging bird feeders and a bird table so it should be a good combination. If you haven’t already got any feeders/table already in situ, set up new items as far ahead of the Big Garden Birdwatch as possible as birds can be quite cautious/skeptical about change.

We’ve also got our trusty binoculars at the ready and the hot chocolate on standby.

Make sure you have your phone or camera to hand to take some photos.

Some useful resources 

• RSPB First Book Of Birds – Anita Ganeri, David Chandler
• i-SPY Birds – Collins Michelin i-SPY Guides – we’re big fans of these pocket-sized boredom busters!
• Birds – Usborne Spotter’s Guides
• RSPB My First Book of Garden Birds – Mike Unwin, Sarah Whittley 

The post RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 appeared first on The Parent Social.

Sofia was bought a Wildlife World Me and My Birds Wild Bird Feed Making Kit and it is great.

I’ve been fascinated with our feathered friends since I was little as my grandad had an aviary. I was also a member of the RSPB‘s youth branch – so this was right up my street. It’s probably no coincidence that the twins’ third word after ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ was ‘bird’.

The kit contains:

 1 x Bright mixing bowl
 2 x Bird cookie shape cutters
 1 x Natural feeding log
 3 x Pastel shade cup cake casts
 1 x Wooden spoon
 1 x Bag of ‘magic mix’
 2 x Coloured ropes
 1 x Wooden perch stick
 Rice paper decorating flowers
 1 x Bag of bird feed mix
 1 x Small pack of fruit and seeds for decoration
 1 x Garden bird feeding and recording book

The instructions are really easy to follow and there is one ‘recipe’ which involves combining the ‘magic mix’ (which looks a bit like powdered custard), water and bird feed mix, and then adding the fruit and seeds. This can be used for three different feeding methods: feeding log, cup cake or cookie shape.

Mixing the ingredients

Filling the feeding log

Moulding one of the cookies

Leave them to set for 12 hours.

It took a few days for the birds to get used to the feeders but once they did we were inundated.

The birds we spotted

We saw robins, blue tits, great tits, greenfinches, sparrows and goldfinches, which were accompanied by the usual ground birds that we get (namely pigeons, wood pigeons, magpies, jays and crows). All three girls were absolutely fascinated. The younger two just loved seeing all the birds, but Sofia (aged four) enjoyed identifying the different breeds.

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Sadly this specific kit is no longer available, but similar items are available.

Ashortwalk Eco Recycled Bird Feeder – Bird Cake Kit

My Living World LW105 Window Bird Feeder, Multicolor

The post Feeding and Spotting Garden Birds with Children appeared first on The Parent Social.