As National Nest Box Week approaches (14th-21st February) We were asked if we would like to receive a Nature’s Feast Starter kit, which consisted of a bird feeder, a bag of wild bird food, and 7 A4 sheets of paper which were,a Common Garden Birds Poster which has 12 different pictures of birds on. A Bird Watch Bingo, Make Your Own Feeder, My Observations of Birds and Their Eating Habits, Nutty Bird Facts,Colour In and Cut Out and Bird Care Guide.

As soon as we received this I asked my husband to put a hook up so I could hang the feeder up at the back of the garden.

The bird food that was supplied with the feeder was Premium Nature’s Feast High Energy Supreme in a 1kg bag Which costs around £3.15.

On the packet it says that it attracts Siskins, Finches, Larks, Tits, Buntings and Dunnocks. There are also feeding tips and a wild bird guide on the bag.

My husband put the hook up and filled the feeder up with the wild bird food and myself and Skye had a proper look at the A4 posters and information.

First we, well I read out to Skye the Nutty Bird Facts, which caused some giggles especially when I read out to her that … If you see a Blackbird, with its wings spread and its beak gapping, lying on the ground, don’t worry – it’s probably just sunbathing!!

The Bird Care guide has a lot of useful information regarding why we should feed the birds, when we should feed them, Hygiene of the feeding stations and offering feeding tips which will help give the birds a safe enviroment to feed from.

We had a good look at the Common Garden Bird Poster which has pictures of 12 birds, The Blackbird, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Song Thrush, Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Greenfinch and Tree Sparrow. Skye loved looking at these pointing out the special details of each bird and telling me if she had seen one in the garden before or not.

The information sheet for Make Your Own Feeder, is brilliant. It gives kids chance to make one for themselves which makes them feel very clever with themselves once they have finished it and put the bird feeder in the garden.
It is very cheap to make too using only a plastic drinks bottle, 2 sticks and a piece of string.
We haven’t made one yet but I am sure we will be making one very soon.

I gave Skye the sheet Bird Watch Bingo and she sat by the window for about 10 minutes at a time trying to spot all of the birds on the bingo sheet. She managed to tick 7 out of the 8 birds which were Blackbird, Blue Tit, Robin, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Great Tit and Greenfinch.

We are yet to see a Goldfinch in our garden but now we keep on watching just incase the elusive one makes an appearance.

Colour and Cut Out, is basically what it says, there are 3 birds to colour in a Goldfinch, a Robin and a Great Tit. Skye hasn’t yet coloured this in she is waiting until next week when she is on half term holiday, which will keep her occupied for a while.

Also during the National Nestbox Week we will be filling out the last sheet which is My Observations of Birds and Their Eating Habits, I thought this would be a good task to set during that week as it’s half term so my daughter will have longer to observe.

On this observation form she will be writing the date, what type of feeder it is, what food is in the feeder, the number of birds at the feeder and the type of birds. She is looking forward to this greatly.
I think this is a great starter kit, not only does it help you feed the wild birds but it also educates you on them too. Living in the country we get a fair few birds in our garden during the day a sight I rarely saw when living in a large town.

Knowing that you are helping them by feeding them is great especially during the cold winter months where the ground is too hard to peck to get worms and bugs to eat.

We have spotted a lot of birds coming into our garden since the bird feeder was put up.
Lots of Greenfinches, Blue, Great and Coal tits, Plenty of Robins, there were 3 sat in a line on the back fence!

The bigger birds like the Thrushes hover by the feeder knock seed on the floor then eat from the floor, where as the smaller birds like the Tits and Finches stand on the perches to feed.

 

The birds must like the food as I have filled it up twice in a weekand its getting low again!

Natures Feast has a wide range of bird feeders, starter kits and wild bird food to see their range visit them here http://www.naturesfeast.co.uk/wild-bird-care/

For more information about National Next Box Week check out the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)website http://www.bto.org/nnbw/index.htm