As the weather begins to turn colder, the birds in our gardens at home and at school are beginning to need our help. Small birds in particular use a lot of calories staying warm at night and so providing them with a highly calorific fat cake can support them to stay healthy over the winter months.

You can buy fat cakes in the shops but they are also easy and fun to make at home. This week Miss Yaffe made her own bird bonbons for Queenswood's feathered friends. Here she tells us  how:

"In Gardening Club, we wanted to give back to the environment and make sure Q’s own resident birds have plenty to eat during the winter months.

The gardeners collected pine cones from around the grounds, and headed to our gardening workshop. Following instructions from the RSPB website to ensure the birds would be safe, they tied string around the bases of the pine cones and rolled them in lard which was at room temperature. Finally they rolled the lard-coated pine cones in seeds. Once fully covered, the gardeners took the bird bonbons outside to hang on the trees.

The gardeners have spotted Robins, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Coal Tits and Tree Sparrows all enjoying the tasty bonbons and they look forward to keeping the birds well-fed this winter."

Miss Yaffe