Feed the birds

Having bought Stupidly large quantities of sunflower seeds, I thought I might at least use some of them for their intended purpose, namely feeding the birds. One small hitch in this plan was that I don't have a bird feeder, but that's OK, surely I can make one!

There was a roll of mesh that had been attached to the greenhouse, presumably to shade tender young plants from the scorching Welsh sunlight... erm... I'm not sure what it was there for, so I took it down. That seemed like a good starting point for a bird feeder.

Garden mesh swiped from greenhouse

There were also some little bits of wire that had been used to hold the mesh up, which would surely be just as good at holding it into a birdfeeder shape. Much fiddling later...

It's looking a bit like a bird feeder by now

Finally I persuaded the mesh into a suitable shape, filled it with seeds, and closed the top with a hook-type piece of wire. The washing whirlygig seemed like a good location for it, being in view of the window, unused due to excessive height and lack of sunshine after 9:30 am, and close to where the bluetits hang out, so that's where I put it.

Bird feeder in situ, but not quite finished yet...

After a couple of days with a distinct lack of birdy interest, I modified the feeder with the addition of a twig for sitting on and larger holes in the mesh just above the twig... and they came! Well, a few tits had a go at feeding there a couple of weeks later. Once.

Great tit tackling the feeder

We haven't seen them again. I have modified it further with a second perch and better-placed feeding holes, but I don't think they've noticed. No further interest anyway. Maybe it's not that easy to make a bird feeder, or maybe there's just too much choice around here - I suspect there are superior feeding opportunities next door.