Supporting feathered friends with RSPB

All pupils were invited to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch over last weekend. Year 3 and Year 6 studied birds in their gardens for an hour as part of their science homework and uploaded results to what is the largest citizen science wildlife survey in the UK (and is one of the largest nature surveys of its kind in the world!).

Caterham was representing Surrey well, which last year had the largest number of contributors of all the counties. To further boost our numbers of contributors, we also had our members of Blue Planet, Natural World joining in with the count. To maximise our chances of seeing plenty of feathered garden visitors in our time slot and help the birds survive over the winter, we learned what foods they need to eat and decided to create a bird menu! We made (nut free) lardy seed cakes with ingredients such as sunflower seeds, millet, linseeds, cranberries, raisins, crushed biscuits and ground corn. We mixed all of the ingredients with the lard in big pans and then spooned, patted and pressed the contents into biodegradable paper cups and let it set.

Once the cakes were firm, we cut slits into the cups to allow the birds free access to the food. Every member of Blue Planet, Natural World Club had a bird feeder to take home to help with their bird watch. The remaining cakes were hung near the woodland area which can be seen from the science lab so we could keep an eye out for the birds which would use them.

We are very pleased to report we have seen lots of blue tits, sparrows and blackbirds using them (along with a couple of cheeky foxes managing to steal two or three!).

If you fancy making some seed cakes for the birds in your garden, click here to check out our half term activity ideas.