Want to see this fella in your garden? You may have to work for it... Painting by the brilliant Matt Sewell No, this is not Gwyneth Paltrow's new diet. Nor is it a trendy still-life. These common household bits n bobs are all your kids need to attract some funky wildlife into your garden. Using these minimal tools, they can build a top bananas bird-feeder. And there are exactly three good reasons why you want to be doing that right now:
1) It's getting cold out there and birds are struggling to find food
2) You'll realise that your kids can probably name more Moshi Monster characters than they can identify birds in your garden
3) You can sing "Feed the bi-ird, let them know..." (melody taken from "Feed the world" song) as you go, feeling rather altruistic and good about yourself
What you need:
Here's how it's done: Grab an orange, cut it in half, plop some peanut butter in each segment, then fill the segments with seeds. Poke two sticks through each bit of orange to give the birds a place to hang out while they're eating. Finally attach string to sticks, so you can hang it up.
Top tip: If you have a cat, keep an eye on those feeders for the first few days. You want to make sure it doesn't become a Tweety and Sylvester situation.
Top quote: "A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream, till the current ends and dips his wing, in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky." Maya Angelou
1) It's getting cold out there and birds are struggling to find food
2) You'll realise that your kids can probably name more Moshi Monster characters than they can identify birds in your garden
3) You can sing "Feed the bi-ird, let them know..." (melody taken from "Feed the world" song) as you go, feeling rather altruistic and good about yourself
What you need:
- An orange
- Some seeds (you can get bird seed, or just some seeds from the kitchen cupboard)
- Peanut butter
- Two sticks
- String
Here's how it's done: Grab an orange, cut it in half, plop some peanut butter in each segment, then fill the segments with seeds. Poke two sticks through each bit of orange to give the birds a place to hang out while they're eating. Finally attach string to sticks, so you can hang it up.
Top tip: If you have a cat, keep an eye on those feeders for the first few days. You want to make sure it doesn't become a Tweety and Sylvester situation.
Top quote: "A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream, till the current ends and dips his wing, in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky." Maya Angelou
Scoop and drop, scoop and drop. Plop, plop, plop.
Annie really went for it with the seeds. They were flying all over the place. Seeds in hair, seeds on floor, seeds down sleeves. Pat, pat, pat. Bobby and Minu were enjoying the seed explosion so much they were even prepared to sweep up, just to keep the kernel calamity going.
Ooh I am chuffed with my work... So chuffed I look like a chipmunk...
Now this really is a still life... I just like the colours.
Rose hip bud explosion, with UFO style orange.
Bird feeders in situ. Birds yet to arrive... Does my bench needs a new lick of paint?
 Here are some other fellows you may spot, once your feeder has gone up: The robin. Painting by Matt Sewell |  The sparrow. Painting by Matt Sewell |
The chaffinch. Painting by Matt Sewell
All images are taken from Matt Sewell's beautiful book Our Garden Birds, published by Ebury Press. A brilliant little companion featuring lovely drawings and great little descriptions of each bird.
Other wild ideas
 Wax on, leaf off |  The most awesomest thing |  Poppy pumpkin balls |
RSS Feed
