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Sunday 29 December 2019

Christmas leftovers that garden birds will love !

As regular readers know, this blog brings a variety of articles, studies, thoughts, photographs, music and recipes! It is presented in a magazine style - we hope something for everyone. Our main focus is about the Low Carb Higher (Healthy) Fat lifestyle, LCHF for short, and you can read more about that here

But this post is about our lovely garden birds ...
"Many of us finish the Christmas period with a fridge full of leftovers and an overflowing box of decorations to go back in the loft, but you can transform much of this excess into a festive gift for garden birds. Insects and berries can be scarce at this time of year, so extras on the bird table will be welcomed, while nesting materials will come in handy from late January onwards.


photo credit Nataba

Mince pies
Birds will happily tuck into broken-up pieces of this festive favourite. Pastry, whether it is cooked or uncooked, is a good energy source for birds as long as it is made with animal fats (butter or lard), as vegetable fats don’t provide enough for cold months. Dried fruits, such as raisins, sultanas and currants, are popular with blackbirds, song thrushes and robins. Soak dried fruit in water first to make it softer.

Door wreath
There’s no need to ditch your Christmas wreath come Twelfth Night. If it is made with natural foliage, so much the better, but even one made from synthetic materials can be transformed into a DIY nesting kit for birds. Wind some straw or dried grasses around it, and push in moss, undyed feathers and pieces of sheep’s wool picked from fences. You can even snag combings of pet hair onto the twigs. Move it from the front door and hang it from a tree in the back garden where birds will use the contents for nesting materials when the breeding season starts in February. 

Suet 
If you’ve made your Christmas pudding in the traditional way, then use any leftover beef suet to make fat balls.

• Gently melt it in a saucepan and add bird seed (two parts seed to one part suet).

• Pour the mixture into moulds (empty yogurt pots will do) and leave to cool in the fridge.

• If you decorated your hearth with pine cones, then roll these in the mixture and hang from trees outside (just make sure they haven’t been sprayed with paint or covered in glitter, as both can be toxic to birds).

DON'T use any fat left in the roasting tin after cooking the Christmas turkey or Boxing Day beef – cooled solidified fat, combined with meat juices, can easily smear onto a bird’s feathers and interfere with their waterproofing and insulation.

photo credit Andrew Howe

Roast potatoes
Of course, it is a rare occasion that any roasties are left uneaten after the roast dinners, but the birds will happily snap them up if any are available. Jacket potatoes (broken open) and mash will also go down well. Chips will most likely be left on the lawn, but if you have an excess of rice from the turkey curry, they will gobble that up, too."

Words and pictures above from article here

Related Post
Healthy Fats ... so good for us and our garden birds, read it here 

As always thanks for reading.

All the best Jan

26 comments:

Jo said...

A good reminder to help out our feathered friends during the colder months, they cost me a fortune in bird food but leftovers can be just as good, not forgetting to leave out water too.

Nadezda said...

Merry Christmas to you both, happy New 2020 Year!

RO said...

I had no idea that birds could eat potatoes! That's pretty amazing info, and I thank you for that. Hugs, and hope your Christmas was amazing! Hugs, RO

Tom said...

...it's important to feed the birds too.

Valerie-Jael said...

Some great ideas there! Valerie

Sandra Cox said...

What a grand post. I did not know that birds liked roasting potatoes.

Divers and Sundry said...

I feed the birds but never leftovers. We eat all of ours ourselves :)

Angela said...

Thank you for the info! May you have a great year in 2020!! Thanks for all you share.

DMS said...

What an interesting post. I was not at my house for the holidays and didn't have any leftovers this year. But- it is good to know options for my birds if I run out of my usual bird food. :)
~Jess

Debbie said...

good to know!! i rarely feed the birds "real food" only bird seed, suet and fruit!!

CJ Kennedy said...

Didn’t know birds could eat the human foods listed. Thanks

Elephant's Child said...

Thank you.
I suspect the birds will get lean leftover pickings from us this year (no mince pies or potatoes were consumed). Ditto on the decoration front, but all are lovely ideas to share the bounty.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Such great information and good to know.

https://linsartyblobs.blogspot.com said...

I put some mash out the other day but the birds didn't eat it. I put it out with suet pellets and they were devoured, maybe if I'd left the mash out a little longer it may have gone.

Laura. M said...

Os deseo a todos un Feliz Año 2020. Happy New Year.
Un abrazo.

Christine said...

Good ideas for feathered friends

My name is Erika. said...

Thanks for this post. I didn't know about potatoes. It's really interesting how we can recycle parts of the leftovers for the good of birds. Happy new week and new year-I can't believe it is almost here. Hugs-Erika

Carola Bartz said...

These are lovely ideas! I actually have a "cookbook" for birds with some great ideas. I love to watch the birds in my garden and we have quite a nice variety. I didn't know about the potatoes and will try that the next time we have leftover roasted potatoes (it happens some times) - thank you for the info.

Conniecrafter said...

very interesting, I did not know that birds eat many of these things.

Teresa said...

Me parece una idea estupenda. Feliz año nuevo.

Jeanie said...

I'd heard of some of these but never about the potatoes! That's a great idea! Thanks!

dellgirl said...

Another great post you have here. Thank you for sharing this, it’s really interesting. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Wishing you all the best, Jan!

Rose said...

I didn't think about leftovers for birds. My mom used to save suet for the birds...but I don't remember what/how she used it for them.

Martha said...

Wonderful ideas for our beautiful feathered friends.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Bravo for thinking of the birds. A little help in the winter is not amiss and they will repay your kindness with hours of entertainment.

William Kendall said...

Good ideas!