One of my favourite thing to do at this time of year is to gather together the wide selection of whisks I have in the garden…. yes… that may sound a little strange, but these cheap kitchen utensils are perfect to use both for feeding the birds and also for dispensing nesting materials!
From cheap ‘3 for a £1’ little whisks to the larger and more robust balloon whisks and flexible plastic whisks, you will find that it is a small investment for you, that will bring great benefit for the birds! Wilkos is great for whisks and it is a lovely activity to do with kids over Easter. You can try putting different materials in each whisk and see which is most popular… #gallery-11893-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-11893-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-11893-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-11893-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
The fat bar feeders also work well for nesting materials and I use a wide selection around the garden. I cable tied these four together and set a Bushnell on them to monitor who visited….
As soon as I see the blue tits starting to think about building, I collect together a range of suitable materials. Try to keep to natural materials wherever possible… hay, dried grass for long borders, moss, groomed pet hair are all great!
My dog, Bryn, regularly ‘donates’ to the cause and most of the nests in and around my garden have Bryn’s fur lining them! It is always the most popular of the materials on offer.
I set two whisks up on my trellis; one with moss (Blue & Great tit favourite initial nesting material) and one with Bryn’s fur (used to line the nest later)
This video shows a blue tit collecting materials from a balloon whisk set up with a mixture of materials…
This video from a few years ago, shows some of Bryn’s fur making an appearance!
I usually hang the whisks or cable tie or screw them onto fences and posts. You can push them into the ground as well and Dunnocks and Sparrows will take advantage.
The bendy rubber-type whisks can also be great for fat balls as well and can make cool feeders!
Have a go this Easter weekend & share any images or successes to me either via my blog on the comments section, or tweet me @katemacrae.