Little Green Fingers

Bird Fat Cakes

During periods of cold weather, natural food for our birds can become hard to find or impossible to reach. Frozen ground and snow covering can lock away food resources at a time when they need it most. Staying warm during the cold winter nights requires a lot of calories and fat reserves.

We can help to provide an accessible food resource for birds in our gardens and at the same time create an informative and fun activity for our children.

In order to make these fat cakes you will need:

250g mixed bird seed

500g Pure Lard - (not used cooking fat)

30g grated cheese

Single yoghurt pots from the recycling

A couple of lengths of string or twine (long enough to suspend from a branch or similar)

Some Sellotape

A small roasting tin to place seed pots into and prevent mess

Method:

1. Pierce a small hole in the bottom of the Yogurt pot, thread the string through and attach to the bottom of the pot with a piece of Sellotape to hold in place. Apply more Sellotape to create a seal to prevent any fat from escaping the bottom of the pot
2. Place into the pot 1/3 mixed seed followed by a layer of grated cheese and then fill to the top with bird seed
3. Place filled pots onto the roasting tin
4. Gently heat lard in a saucepan until melted (take care when heating lard when children are in the vicinity)
5. Carefully pour the heated lard into the pots until the contents are fully submerged
6. Place roasting tin and pots into the fridge to cool overnight.
7. The next morning remove pots from the fridge and carefully cut the pots away from the fat cakes
8. Take the fat cakes into the garden and suspend them from a suitable branch or fence post where birds will be able to access

For further fun, why not record the birds that visit your fat feed by printing this great Bird Bingo game. Children can play from the warmth of the home and learn to identify UK garden birds at the same time.  Download Bird Bingo PDF